THE HOSPITAL SCHEME IS RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL

The hospital authorities hope to get planning permission on 27 January 2012. The government has agreed to approve funding for the scheme once planning permission has been given by Brighton & Hove City Council. Further delays mean that funding for the scheme could be at risk.

The buildings, constructed 180 years ago, are inadequate and it is essential to replace them with modern facilities. “I have now seen the interior of the Barry building for myself and was shocked at the cramped conditions that hospital staff had to work in and patients had to cope with.” SHN.

The Centre for Neurosciences is being relocated to Brighton. The Sussex Cancer Centre will be expanded to include a new Chemotherapy Day Unit, increasing the radiotherapy service and doubling the number of beds in the Oncology Ward. Redevelopment will also mean that the hospital can provide state-of-the-art teaching, training and research facilities for the Medical School.

Although The Brighton Society regrets the loss of the Barry building (which English Heritage turned down for listing in 2009) it accepts that it is not possible to retain it as part of the new scheme. The surviving Barry building is, in fact, only a damaged remnant of the original hospital (see above 1835 engraving). The listed chapel, designed by William Hallett, will be relocated to another part of the new building and will house the hospital’s history archive.

Duncan Selbie, chief executive of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, said “We keep the Barry building as clean, dry and decorated as we can, but the actual building is a disgrace”.

The stated aim of the three fingured plan is to grant every ward a view of the sea, though the Brighton Society consider that the real aim is to give every ward some daylight. In practice every ward overlooks another ward. The latest design can be viewed on the hospital website:
http://www.bsuh.nhs.uk/about-us/hospital-redevelopment/

Although the Brighton Society wholeheartedly supports the scheme for the Royal Sussex County Hospital we have recently seen the colours of the proposed wall panels and are unhappy about the choice of some of the colours.

The blue panels on the east elevation are too dark and jump out of the large white building. We wrote to the architect asking for his theory behind the choice of colours, but have not received a reply. We have now writen to the case officer asking for the colours to be considered as a reserve matter. This wil not hold up the date the decision is taken, but can be considered subsequently.

The west facade facing Abbey Road is the best with a band of colour which seems to set the windows on one floor back and the orange of the panels is more subdued as it appears to be in the shadow of the balcony.

We are also concerned about the placing of the hospital entrance which is on a side wall and cannot be seen by pedestrians walking from the car park from the east.

Phase 1 of the scheme needs to accommodate all the wards from the Barry building area (as well as Neurosciences from Hurstwood Park), to enable that portion of the hospital to be demolished to construct Phase 2. The St Mary’s Hall senior school (a listed building) has been acquired by the hospital and will be used as its administrative hub.

The Brighton Society welcomes the decision to construct the helipad on a Meccano type of structure on top of the Thomas Kemp Tower. It seems that the helipad has to be constructed at a high level as a result of  turbulance of the wind blowing in from the sea and over the surrounding roof tops.

We are also worried about the £10million being spent on creating hundereds of extra car parking spaces, which will encourage more people to travel to the hospital by car, leading to more congestion in Eastern Road and making it difficult to maintain the present reliable frequent bus service. We would have liked to see an equivalent sum spent on alternative forms of travel.

Professor Duane Passman, director of estates and facilities for the NHS Trust, is quoted as saying: “We propose to design a building which is of the highest architectural quality”. That is exactly what the Brighton Society would wish for. Part of the redesigned street frontage goes some way towards achieving this aim.