Investing in our estate while progressing redevelopment
We continue to take forward our plans for a full redevelopment of St Mary’s Hospital. We ran an engagement programme with patients and local communities through January to get early input on our proposals. We received nearly 300 responses to our survey in which we asked about the future of St Mary’s. We also spoke to many more patients and local residents through a series of pop-up events around Paddington and online. Almost everyone who responded expressed their support for a full rebuild, as well as sharing their views on what the future St Mary’s should provide and considerations for the wider Paddington basin area. We’ve published a summary of the feedback on our website.
We are now awaiting a decision on funding from the Government’s New Hospital Programme. This would enable us to move on to detailed design and planning for the new St Mary’s. This would be the furthest along our plans for the redevelopment of St Mary’s have ever reached and would represent a significant investment in our future. To support design and planning, we would develop a comprehensive involvement and co-design process with patients, staff and the local community. For our Charing Cross Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital refurbishment and rebuild schemes – also part of the New Hospital Programme – we remain on track to submit first-stage business cases within the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, we are continuing to develop an estates investment plan for the short to medium term. We are focusing our limited, annual capital funding on initiatives that support improved ways of working, all while tackling the most urgent backlog maintenance concerns which pose risks to our estate and the delivery of care. In the past few weeks, we have seen progress on a number of these estate improvement schemes, including:
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Approval for a second phase of improvements to 3 West ward at Charing Cross Hospital. This will expand consultation and waiting areas, alongside wider refurbishment, and is due to be delivered by March 2025 at an expected cost of £2.4m.
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Work to improve clinical and patient areas in the Irvine vascular studies department at St Mary’s Hospital. The £865,000 scheme is due to be completed by the end of April 2024.
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Start of a full refurbishment and upgrade of the St Mary’s main café and its kitchen facilities. The project will create a much needed 24/7 staff lounge, while continuing to provide a space for patients and visitors. The new staff lounge is due to open in June 2024. This represents an investment of £1m, with significant support from Imperial Health Charity.
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Construction starting in the Mint building to provide a new home for the St Mary’s library in a renovated education centre. The new resource and library facility will provide a supportive learning environment for students, researchers and staff, as well as a space for community engagement. The relocation of the library to Mint building will follow the planned closure of the Imperial College Medical Building and is due to be completed in this autumn at a cost of around £4m. The project will be supported by Imperial Health Charity, thanks to a very generous donation from Baron Paul of Marylebone.
Alongside these improvements, significant funds have had to be spent on essential maintenance for our aging estate. Over the past year, this has included:
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£3.4m on re-roofing across our estate
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£2.4m on fire safety improvements across our estate, such as new fire alarms and fire doors
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£1.5m of repairs to Clarence building at St Mary’s - the reason for the current external scaffolding
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Refurbishment of the tunnel and south corridor at Hammersmith Hospital, at a cost of £500,000, to improve lighting, flooring and fire safety.
