Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust hopes it can submit a planning application to redevelop St Mary’s Hospital by spring 2027
A London hospital which is being forced to shut its main outpatient building due to structural issues is canvassing feedback on plans to redevelop the site. St Mary’s Hospital, a sprawling estate in Paddington where Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928, has launched a public consultation to inform the first stage of its forthcoming masterplan.
The Trust which owns the site, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, is looking to build a new, taller hospital on a smaller footprint, enabling it to carry out a range of improvements to existing facilities. The additional land freed up by the redevelopment is also to potentially be used to expand Paddington Life Sciences, a cluster bringing together clinicians, researchers and communities.
Matthew Tulley, Redevelopment Director at Imperial, said the first phase of the consultation “marks an important step on our journey to finally deliver the urgently needed new St Mary’s”. The consultation is being launched against the backdrop of ongoing issues with the hospital estate.
Parts of St Mary’s date back to 1845, making them a century older than the NHS, and are in a state of disrepair. When the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) visited the hospital last year evidence of the challenges the Trust is facing were evident, from rusty pipes and leaks to patched flooring.
Despite having the largest maintenance backlog out of all of the UK’s Trusts, Imperial’s three hospitals, which alongside St Mary’s include Hammersmith and Charing Cross, were shunted into the final tranche of the Government’s New Hospital Programme (NHP) announced last January. The result is that much-needed works are not expected to start for another decade with completion in the 2040s.
The Trust is exploring additional sources of finance and ways of funding the redevelopment, which it says will allow it to submit a planning application by spring 2027. This would then enable it to deliver a new hospital by 2035, eight years earlier than the NHP timetable.
Two recent issues have exemplified the need to get the redevelopment plans moving. In November the Trust discovered reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in its main outpatient building.
Following further structural analysis it announced in December that the building would be shut from the end of March due to safety concerns. Also last year “significant issues” were found in the foundations of the Mint building, the oldest part of the estate used to deliver clinical services as well as an education centre.
Mr Tulley said: “Following decades of stalled progress, we are now closer than ever before to delivering a much needed new hospital in Paddington as we work to develop and submit a planning application by spring 2027.
“We want as many patients, staff and local people as possible to help shape our masterplan for the redevelopment of the site, whether through our online survey or by coming along to our in-person pop-up events. This will inform both the design of the hospital and our plans for the wider site.
“The St Mary’s estate is one of the oldest in the NHS, with parts dating back to 1845. We simply can’t keep up with the rate of deterioration, despite spending millions every year on basic maintenance. This can be seen clearly in two current issues that mean we are having to spend even more money on repairs than expected, and move all clinics out of our main outpatient building as we cannot ensure its safety beyond this year.”
The online consultation, which can be found on the Trust’s website, is open until March 20. Three pop-up events are also to be held where visitors can speak to members of the team and share their views.
These are organised for:
- February 28, 10am to 2pm, at The Bays Building, South Wharf Road, London W2 1NY
- March 3, 11am to 3pm, at Church Street Market, Church Street, London NW8 8DT
- March 4, 11am to 3pm, at Ground floor, QEQM Building, South Wharf Road, St Mary’s Hospital, London W2 1NY
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