WORK is set to begin on a new children’s hospital in Belfast.
The long-awaited development has been given the go-ahead this week by the Northern Ireland Executive.
With construction work due to begin “within a matter of days” the overall cost of the project has been confirmed as £671m.
When first proposed in 2020 the project was estimated to cost £223m.
The 10-floor facility, which will be located within Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital site, will have 155 beds, 10 theatres, and an emergency department capable of catering for up to 45,000 children per year.
Eighty per cent of the beds will be in single rooms with private ensuite facilities, and each ward will feature social and play spaces, with parent facilities and separate staff areas, the Executive has confirmed.
First Minister Michelle O'Neill, deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly and Health Minister Mike Nesbitt with Ciaran Mulgrew (left), Chair of the Belfast Trust, and Maureen Edwards (centre), Interim Chief Executive of the Belfast TrustConstruction of the hospital will take five years, with the building expected to be opened by Belfast Health and Social Care Trust in 2030.
The works costs will be spread over the five-year construction period and will be funded from the Department of Health capital budget.
“While we celebrate the go-ahead for this prestigious new facility, it’s important to acknowledge that, in common with major children’s hospital developments in Scotland and RoI, this project has had a difficult history with significant delays and cost increases,” Northern Ireland’s Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said.
“I tasked Departmental officials to identify the key lessons from the new Maternity Hospital project and ensure that they were applied ahead of the contract signing for the new Children's Hospital,” he added.
“It is essential that a range of improvements are secured to the management of this project.”
The company awarded the contract to build the new Children’s Hospital is GBHP.
“This is very welcome and long-awaited news for families across the North,” First Minister Michelle O’Neill said.
“Once completed the new hospital will provide our children and young people with access to the very best medical treatment as well as improving their overall experience of hospital care.”
She added: “I look forward to work starting on the hospital within the next few days and the significant benefits it will bring to staff and patients.”
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