Historic Hull Hospital building demolished for helipad

The 103-year-old building has not housed hospital inpatients since 2008

A hospital building which took in casualties in World War One is being demolished to make way for a helipad.

The three-storey, red-bricked Haughton Building in Hull opened in 1914, before the NHS existed, as an infirmary treating paupers from Hull Workhouse.

It will be replaced by a £500,000 helipad to allow the air ambulance to land near Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust premises.

Demolition work is expected to be completed by Christmas.

Parts of the building are being taken down by hand to make sure none of the debris falls onto the nearby Argyle Street or railway line.

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Duncan Taylor, director of estates, facilities and development at the trust, said: "It's fair to say this job poses a few challenges.

The Haughton Building will make way for a new helipad

"We are having to hand-demolish part of it to prevent debris either falling onto the railway track or the main road."

The building is steeped in local history. Shortly after opening, it was a centre for frontline casualties arriving at nearby Paragon Station on special ambulance trains during the war.

In 1917, it became a naval hospital for injured sailors.

In World War Two, it was used as a casualty-receiving hospital for Hull people injured during the Blitz.

The building has not housed hospital inpatients since 2008, when it was considered unsuitable for modern medicine and hospital care and was used as a linen store and for administrative services.

The helipad has been funded by a donation from the HELP (Helicopter Emergency Landing Pads) Appeal.