Exciting plans for new children's hospital building unveiled

Evelina London Children’s Hospital has unveiled exciting plans to care for more children and young people by building a new children’s hospital building. The plans, which will take around six years to deliver, have been submitted by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and its development partner Linkcity, to Lambeth Council for approval.

The new building will be joined to the existing, award-winning children’s hospital which opened in 2005. In that time the number of children and young people who come to it from across London and the South-East has more than doubled.

The proposals will create room for Evelina London to grow into a bigger and even better children’s hospital, able to offer more life-changing care and treatment to the children and young people that need it. The new development will cut waiting times and bring together more services in one place, improving the experience and outcomes for patients.

It will also provide space to expand specialist heart and lung services as, subject to consultation, children’s services will move from Royal Brompton Hospital to an expanded Evelina London in around six years’ time.

The new hospital building, designed by Hawkins\Brown Architects and Linkcity, is expected to include:

• Around 100 beds, plus up to 20 additional critical care beds
• A new suite of operating theatres and procedure rooms
• Specialist imaging facilities
• More spaces for patients and families to relax, including a roof terrace.

Marian Ridley, Director of Evelina London, said: “Our expansion is vital to meet the growing demand for our specialist care. A bigger hospital will mean we can meet the needs of the sickest children with the most complex conditions from across the country.

“During this exciting planning phase, we want to ensure we are putting patients, families and staff at the heart of what we do by listening to all of their views, remaining at the forefront of innovation and ensuring we can adapt as we continue to grow.”

Linkcity and the Trust have been working closely with Evelina London staff, patients, and families to inform plans for the new building. The team has also gone through a comprehensive process with Lambeth Council to prepare the planning application. This has included regular engagement with local communities and stakeholders through online webinars, sharing the latest drawings and images of the proposals and gathering feedback and comments that have shaped the final design.

The proposals will be delivered by building contractor, Bouygues UK, who previously worked on the University College London Hospital proton beam therapy centre.

Construction of a new day surgery centre, next to the existing hospital building, is already underway. It will provide family-friendly space that offers everything children and young people need for surgery in one place, including pre-surgery checks, recovery, and preparation to return home.

As a specialist children’s hospital on the same site as St Thomas’ Hospital which has maternity, an emergency department and other adult services, Evelina London is unique in London and one of a few hospitals in Europe able to offer children and families a comprehensive range of services from before birth to old age.

The Trust and Linkcity have put together a first-rate consultant team to design, plan and deliver the new hospital building project, including planning and heritage consultants Montagu Evans, townscape advisors Peter Stewart Consultancy, Cascade Communications, B|D Landscape, engineers AECOM and Ramboll, transport advisors Caneparo Associates, and daylight/sunlight specialists eb7.

More information on:

• Evelina website
• Cascade website
• Planning portal.