Final approval for 3Ts redevelopment in Brighton

Final approval of the Full Business Case for the 3Ts redevelopment of the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton was granted by HM Treasury on 26 October.

The £485m redevelopment programme will replace some of the oldest buildings in the NHS with two state-of-the-art facilities for the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Matthew Kershaw, The trust’s Chief Executive said: “This redevelopment is a once in a generation opportunity to build on the excellent care we currently provide to our patients and truly improve acute healthcare for patients in Brighton and Hove and across the region. Today’s announcement marks a genuine turning point; the 3Ts Redevelopment is no longer an ambitious plan, it is the future of this hospital.”

BDP’s design solution fits a large-scale hospital sensitively into its historic context. The topography of the site is fully exploited with the mass of the building broken down into fingers, which contain the bulk of the ward accommodation and face south with views over the English Channel.

The new build will include 361 beds, 65% of which will be in single en-suite rooms, and 297 additional parking spaces. A helideck will enable patients who have suffered a major trauma to be transferred directly to the hospital by air ambulance.

Preparatory work on the scheme started in 2014 with the first building is now scheduled for completion at the end of 2019, with the programme finally completing in 2024.