York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has marked a significant milestone in the building of its new £10 million extension to York Hospital with a bolt-tightening ceremony.
Tightening one of the initial structural frame bolts in the extension’s steel frame, Trust CEO, Patrick Crowley, said: “This is the biggest capital investment for many years, and will allow the Trust to continue to provide the highest quality of service to the growing number of patients needing endoscopy. This is an exciting development for the Trust, and will transform our service into a centre of excellence for endoscopy, providing enhanced high quality care to our patients.”
Every year the Trust performs around 13,000 treatments, and the new building has been designed to increase capacity to meet growing demand, improve patient flow, and enhance the patient experience. Housing seven endoscopy rooms, the new unit will ‘deliver improvements to diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy waiting times’, and increase the range of procedures offered, meaning fewer patients will have to travel to Leeds or Hull.
James Hayward, the Trust’s Capital Project manager, explained: “The bolt tightening ceremony is a significant event for the Trust, and highlights how well work is progressing. The structural steel frame is well under way. As we are building on top of an existing building to maximise land utilisation on our site, we needed to strengthen the existing foundations, which is now completed. We expect the steel frame to be completed in the next few months, after which we will see the roof and exterior cladding installed. Over the next few months, staff, patients and visitors, will really start to see it taking shape.”
The ‘landmark moment’ was celebrated by Trust staff, contractors, and representatives from construction company, Kier. Nick Shepherd, director, Kier Northern, added: “We are delighted to celebrate and share this significant milestone for the first stage of the build process with both the Trust and stakeholders, who have worked together to get this fantastic new facility to site.
“Kier has been working with the Trust for over a decade, and has delivered various projects, with the Endoscopy building the largest yet. We look forward to continuing building on this good work as a true collaborative partner.”
The new two-storey unit is being built above the hospital’s existing physiotherapy department, and will be connected into the hospital at first floor level. The Trust says that, once complete, it will be ‘one of the most modern and largest endoscopy units in England’.
The project will be complete in May 2019, and the new facility operational by the summer that year.
