Long-awaited hospital rebuild project due to begin

Kettering General Hospital hopes to begin its full rebuild after the enabling works

A hospital is due to begin its long-awaited rebuild project after it was allowed to access government funding it was awarded three years ago.

Kettering General Hospital was allocated £46m for a new urgent care hub in 2019 but was yet to receive the money.

The government has now said it can access £38m for "enabling works" for the planned rebuild, and a new energy centre and energy infrastructure.

Polly Grimmett from the hospital said the work would "help to reduce some of the considerable risks [to power supplies] we face on a daily basis".

Kettering General Hospital was awarded £46m in 2019 but had not been able to access the money from government to start any work

Alongside the money for the urgent care hub the hospital was awarded a further £350m for redevelopment.

Last year, the government agreed two separate funding streams for redeveloping the hospital could be combined to avoid potential delays.

The money for the redevelopment was part of the government's £3.7bn of funding for hospitals.

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The hospital said its high voltage electrical infrastructure was more than 50 years old and its main power supply had reached its maximum capacity.

Its heating and hot water comes from a 10-year-old temporary boiler plant which has regular maintenance issues.

It hoped the work on the energy centre could start in December 2023 and be completed by December 2024, with the electrical infrastructure completed by the end of next year.

Ms Grimmett said: "It is great news that we now have the official go-ahead to start enabling works which will pave the way for our hospital rebuild."

The hospital is still using its temporary boiler plant for heating and hot water

Hospital chief executive Deborah Needham said there was "an urgent need to make our hospital suitable for the future needs of our rapidly growing local population".

Conservative MP for Kettering, Philip Hollobone, said the rebuild was "long awaited and much campaigned for".