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Two long-serving healthcare employees and a member of the construction team have joined forces to mark a major milestone in the construction of a new hospital in Whiston, UK by placing the final piece of concrete to ‘top out’ the new building.
Staff members of the St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Sue McNicholas and Ernie Poole, and Taylor Woodrow’s Structures Project Manager, Jerry Daly, took part in the topping out ceremony to mark the completion of the main structure of the new building, which forms part of one of the largest healthcare developments in the country.
Taylor Woodrow is currently creating a new hospital building to house state-of-the-art in-patient facilities, including an accident and emergency department, diagnostic suite, operating theatres, and modern wards to replace the existing facility.
Local healthcare workers and the team working on the site were joined by executives from Taylor Woodrow, St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and the NewHospitals Consortium to celebrate this key stage in the building programme, which is running on schedule.
Sean O’Driscoll, Project Director for Taylor Woodrow, said, “This is a key milestone for our team and the culmination of a great deal of hard work by local people for local people.
“Hundreds of people are working together both on and off site to create an exceptional new hospital, which will be staffed by local healthcare workers to serve the surrounding neighbourhood, so it’s particularly rewarding for everyone involved to see the new, state of the art hospital taking shape.”
Ann Marr, Chief Executive of St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said, “This is a great achievement, with the main structure of the new hospital at Whiston now complete.
“These new, modern healthcare facilities are well on track to open in 2010, which is great news for the local community, and will provide our patients in St Helens, Knowsley and Halton with new, fantastic healthcare facilities in the future.”
The NewHospitals Consortium of Taylor Woodrow and Innisfree is currently building two hospitals for the Trust. The design and build project, worth over £350 million, is one of the largest PFI contracts awarded in the last 10 years.
As well as the construction of the new facility at Whiston, the contract also includes the construction of a new Diagnostic and Treatment Centre at St Helens Hospital.
The new hospital at St Helens is due to open its doors to the local community in autumn 2008, with the opening of Whiston Hospital following in spring 2010.
