Celebrations to mark milestone in hospital’s new multi-million pound development

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.

The event is a tradition in the building industry when a new development reaches a significant construction milestone.  Tightening one of the initial structural frame bolts in the extension’s steel frame was Patrick Crowley, Chief Executive.  Patrick 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 it will transform our service into a centre of excellence for endoscopy, providing an 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 the efficiency of patient flow and enhance the patient experience.

The new unit, which will house seven endoscopy rooms, 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, Capital Project Manager, York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust explained:  “The bolt tightening ceremony is a significant event for the Trust and highlights how well work is progressing with the development.

“The structural steel frame is well under way.  As we are building on top of an existing building to maximise the utilisation of land 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.  Following this we will see the roof and exterior cladding being 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, as well as representatives from Kier, the construction company behind the new build.

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 state of the art facility to site.

“Kier has been working with the Trust for over a decade and has delivered various projects, with the Endoscopy building being the largest to date.  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.  It will be connected into the hospital at First Floor level and once complete will be one of the most modern and largest endoscopy units in England.

The £10 million project will be complete in May 2019 and operational by the summer.

04 May 2018