London & South East

In good health: Purley and District War Memorial Hospital

Purley and District War Memorial Hospital’s multimillion pound makeover is now well underway.

The building is being completely redesigned and refurbished to provide better out-patient and diagnostic areas and bring the currently disused wards back into use as clinics and GP practice. Work began on site in December 2012 and is scheduled to be complete by summer this year.

The finished building will allow for 90,000 outpatient appointments a year and will mean 80 per cent of the south of the borough’s healthcare needs will be dealt with by the new facility – up from 40 per cent.

The “Tapping Out” ceremony was held in December and was attended by Croydon South MP Richard Ottaway. Speaking at the ceremony, Richard said:

“I’m delighted to see that work has started on Purley Hospital. After many years of campaigning for a redevelopment of the site, it fills me with pride to have been invited to remove the first brick of a wall that is coming down to make way for a state-of-the-art facility.

“What this new hospital means is that the majority of outpatient services for the south of the borough will be provided in the south of the borough.

“It means improved facilities nearer to my constituents’ homes, and it can’t come too soon.”

The existing war memorial will be removed during the works and reinstated in the new entrance area.

Main contractors, Miller Construction are now drawing towards the end of the strip out phase, with the building now back to its bare bones. All internal rooms have been stripped back, the roof has its new protective covering in readiness for tiling and all of the old windows around the building have been replaced.

Trades are now beginning to arrive to install insulation for the water and electricity supplies essential to both the general operation of the hospital and its state of the art diagnostic equipment. Work will also start on new internal partitions, dividing the hospital into its new component parts.

Asbesto Serve has been working in accordance with Miller in order to remove all the asbestos from the building. The company has over 20 years experience in the industry and welcome repeat customers from Government establishments, hotel groups, demolition contractors, property developers, retail airports and the domestic sector.

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