Hammersmith & Fulham Council has welcomed confirmation of government funding for the design and planning of the redevelopment of St Mary's Hospital in Paddington.
Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust said the funding confirmation by the New Hospital Programme will also allow work to progress on refurbishment design planning for Charing Cross and Hammersmith hospitals.
Imperial will now be pursuing additional funding options for the hospital rebuilds by developing life sciences hubs across the hospital sites – supported by H&F's Upstream London industrial strategy.
The announcement on Wednesday (5 February) was applauded by H&F Leader Stephen Cowan as 'welcome news' for patients and staff across west London. Cllr Cowan said:
We believe the rebuild programmes at Charing Cross and Hammersmith hospitals can also be accelerated through cutting-edge innovation in life sciences and a laser focus on growth-led investment opportunities.
As new partners in our Upstream London industrial strategy, Imperial Healthcare has joined with Imperial College London and the council to deliver on our shared ambition to curate more high growth life science clusters across our borough.
By doing that, we can also unwrap new, alternative funding options for vital NHS facilities while helping the government achieve its number one priority of inclusive economic growth and prosperity."
Phased refurbishment
The Government's New Hospital Programme confirms that the St Mary's Hospital redevelopment work is intended to conclude with planning consent for a new hospital within a redeveloped life sciences campus in 2027-28.
A first tranche of £19.4million is due to be released this month from what is anticipated to be a total of around £50million to complete this phase.
Chief executive of Imperial College Healthcare, Professor Tim Orchard, said: "While St Mary's has the most pressing needs and economic benefits, there will be similar opportunities for our two other hospitals in the New Hospital Programme – Charing Cross and Hammersmith.
"As they both involve phased refurbishment and some new build, rather than a full redevelopment, we have a little more time to work through options," he added.
All three hospitals remain in 'Wave 3' of New Hospital Programme schemes, with Government funding for construction due to be released after 2035. Imperial hopes to be able to bring forward start dates with additional funding.
Economic growth
Independent analysis shows an expanded Paddington Life Sciences will create an additional 12-15,000 jobs and generate up to £1.5billion in new economic activity annually, stated Professor Orchard.
Along with Imperial College London and H&F Council's White City Innovation District – located near Hammersmith Hospital – the plans are an integral part of the wider Imperial West Tech Corridor.
Professor Orchard continued: "Achieving planning consent for the redevelopment of St Mary's will provide an immediate, additional boost to investor confidence, helping us enormously as we compete with life science propositions across Europe.
"We will also be helping to expand on H&F's Upstream London industrial strategy that is curating the benefits of life science developments involving all our hospitals – St Mary's, Charing Cross, Hammersmith, Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea and the Western Eye."
