Demolition work has started on what was one of the oldest working hospital buildings in the entire NHS.
And in the coming weeks the work will become more visible at the Barry Building which was opened in 1828.
The internal soft strip of the building started last month with the hard demolition due to begin this month.
The demolition is part of the £750 million modernisation of the Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Eastern Road, Brighton.
The Barry Building is to be replaced by the Sussex Cancer Centre which is moving from the eastern end of the hospital site.
Hospital boss George Findlay gave an update this morning (Thursday 8 February) to the board of University Hospitals Sussex, the trust that runs the Royal Sussex.
Dr Findlay, the trust chief executive, said: “The demolition of the Barry Building at the Royal Sussex County Hospital is now under way to prepare the site for our new Sussex Cancer Centre.
“Over the next few months, the old hospital estate and surrounding buildings will be carefully dismantled and a revised planning application submitted for the £155 million new centre.
“It will bring state of the art purpose-built facilities, employing novel treatments and technologies, expertise and research together in an environment that supports improved patient and staff experience for our radiotherapy, oncology and haematology departments.”
The Barry Building is the first of about half a dozen outdated buildings to come down. The others include the fracture clinic on the south west corner of the hospital site.
Then, behind the Barry Building, the IT and data centre, the Nigel Porter Unit and the ENT (ear, nose and throat) building are due to removed.
And finally, the modular Hanbury Building, next to the new Louisa Martindale Building, fronting Eastern Road, will be taken down.
The Hanbury Building was put up as a temporary six-storey building to provide space for hospital services to be relocated while the Louisa Martindale Building was constructed.
The trust has already applied to Brighton and Hove City Council to extend its temporary planning permission.
Hospital bosses gave neighbours an update last month which also included details of dust, noise and vibration monitoring and measures to divert as much of the material as possible from landfill as possible.
Earlier, Sarah Westwell, consultant oncologist and chief of service for cancer at the trust, said: “We’re hugely excited about this once in a generation opportunity to transform the care we’re able to provide for people living with cancer in Sussex.
“The building has been meticulously designed with our patients, their outcomes and wellbeing at the heart of every decision.
“Our new cancer centre will bring world-class cancer care to Brighton and Sussex, helping to save lives at a time when one in two of us will get cancer in our lifetime.”
Planning permission for the 10-year hospital modernisation scheme was originally granted in 2012 but plans for the Sussex Cancer Centre have since been updated.
A public consultation in the autumn sought feedback on the revised design and comments will be taken into account as the trust finalises a formal application to amend its plans.
The application is due to be submitted to the council next month.
The hospital trust’s director of capital development and planning, Robert Cairney, said: “Stage 1 of the redevelopment, now known as the Louisa Martindale Building, has completely transformed the clinical environment for more than 30 wards and departments since it opened for patients (last June).
“Stage 2 will do the same for our radiotherapy, oncology and haematology departments and provide state of the art facilities for patients receiving treatment for cancer too.”
Is always a bit sad when such a historic building is getting demolished but at this point is needed for the interest of everyone.
Ugly soulless modern designs replacing beautiful buildings with a character and a sense of place.
But also not conducive to providing modern medical care or a modern patient experience.
Not conducive to wealthy developers’ bank balances you mean.
Nothing compared to poor purchase practice in the NHS, no co-ordination to benefit bulk buying, no control over purchase prices, every little department acting like wanabee popes at huge cost to the tax payers, stream line it and co-ordinate between all NHS and GP departments, less administration, lower cost and that is an easy fix, plenty more if the muppet manager mates of Government and Councils get out of the way
What “wealthy developer” is involved here?
NHS decision on whether to keep the old building(s) or not.
Cannot believe people are moaning about this building being demolished. It’s a hospital, surly a modern, efficient building is much easier to keep clean and cheaper to run. Add to that the inside of the Barry building is really quite a horrible place to be. This has been a long time coming and thank god they didn’t listen to any of the weirdos that seem to love these outdated buildings. The fire station at Preston Circus is another great example of an old building that doesn’t look very good at all but for some reason is listed… Unless the buildings are actually nice to look at and are not slowing down life saving services I say pull them down.
The hospital I was born in is no more.
‘Modern’ medical care is not that great in many cases. And increasingly few people seem to be able to access it. A ‘modern patient experience’ seems to be soulless hermetically sealed wards uncondusive to recovery.
I quite agree with you Chris. Hospitals, in my opinion, should probably prioritise function over form.
Except in this case I don’t think the Barry Building actually is all that attractive, and I normally like architecture of that era. And add to that the fact that it’s no longer suitable for modern healthcare, I won’t be too sad to see it go.
Keep on dreaming zz zz zz
I like old buildings but I’m not sure why people want to keep this particular one.
It has been added on to so many times that it has lost any architectural merit, and the muddled interior layout is no longer fit for purpose.
So, for sure, they want to knock it down and replace it with a purpose-built health care unit.
Whether we should have all our health care facilities stacked so high on Eastern road – and with a poor local transport structure – is another debate.
A friend of mine enjoyed the best care there out of all the admissions he had to the Royal Sussex. it’s cosyness seemed to inspire the best out of staff.
Patient Transport guys today mentioned the Barry being Listed as we left the hospital; and they wrongly believed it was to be kept “because its Listed”. They did not believe me that it was part of consent to demolish.
I had to go to the new Louisa Martindale block to ultrasound. Labyrinthine journey through a maze of corridors and lift options was very confusing. They kept wanting to take me to fractures for xray. No, no, no I protested. A porter is the best person to ask! He put us right. Several lost patients trying to LEAVE after appts. I reckon if there was an emergency I would hope to be able to abseil my way out if there were no passing porters….
Way too much on that small site; but the Martindale bit I visited with the outside terrace was classy. Especially smiled at two seagull sculptures in a planter on that terrace. Worried the terrace ‘wall’ of glass was too low and not safe enough to trust.
It’s an ugly bad building not fit for purpose by those who had to use it. Not everything is worthy of keeping for the sake of it. Thanks and goodbye.
If only they’d invest in helping those with chronic health conditions too, but our lives aren’t headline grabbing so we aren’t important.
I have always felt this site was wrong for hospital re-development, personally id rather seen the old building turned into housing as many another hospital complex has around the country.
I shall be sad to see its demise as while not ecstatically beautiful it has more character than a concrete box style.
Keeping the hospital on this site when it is so inaccessible is a mistake. Its a steep slope It should have been in an area on the edge of the City such as Falmer or Shoreham airport area or the back of hove. or The Brighton General site now largely discarded.
They should sort out the bus stops jamming everything up for most of the day. Incorporate an off road bus bay in design and BTW sort the road surface!
Why not just keep the building and work around it then as it 200 year old
Because it’s no use as a hospital building. Also it’s ugly. You can’t keep everything just because it’s old.