Hospital reaches 'milestone' as builder appointed

The hospital's plans include landscaped gardens to provide young people with a place to relax

A "major milestone" in creating a new children's hospital for the East of England has been reached after a building contractor was appointed, the trust responsible has said.

Cambridge Children's Hospital will be built opposite the Rosie Maternity Hospital on the same site that houses Addenbrooke's and Royal Papworth hospitals in the city.

It will care for children from Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said specialist construction company Bouygues UK had been appointed and work was expected to start within the next 18 months.

The facility will be the first specialist children's hospital in the East of England - the only region in the UK currently without one.

The five-storey building will include 108 inpatient beds, 16 paediatric intensive care beds, 42 day-case beds, seven operating theatres, imaging and diagnostics and a hospital school alongside a new research institute.

Prof Isobel Heyman, clinical co-lead for mental health for Cambridge Children's Hospital, said: "This truly is an exciting moment for the project. We are bringing specialist care closer to home so children and families across the East of England will have better, more equitable access to the care they need – with less time away from school, home and community."

The Cambridge Children's Hospital will bring together children's mental and physical health services under one roof

Matt Allen, director of new hospital construction at the trust, said: "This is a major milestone in the journey to deliver Cambridge Children's Hospital.

"Bouygues UK is a first-class contractor with proven expertise in building and delivering excellent healthcare infrastructure within a collaborative environment. This makes them an ideal construction partner to deliver such an important project.

"Together we can now get straight down to work in finalising our design and plans and ensuring best value for money under an initial pre-construction services agreement."

Philippe Bernard, chair and CEO at Bouygues UK, said: "We look forward to working closely with all partners to bring this ground-breaking vision to life, setting new standards in healthcare for children."