First published on Feb 23 as an exclusive, but we were asked to take it down
THIS is the first stunning picture of the new Alder Hey... a children's hospital in a park built for the 21st century.
Work on the new hospital in Springfield Park, Knotty Ash, starts later this year and is expected to be opened in 2015.
It will be a landmark building not just for Liverpool but for the UK -Cllr Malcolm Kennedy
The contract has been awarded to Laing O'Rourke who have beaten rivals Balfour Beatty to the £288m showpiece hospital.
Springfield ParkObservers within the construction industry say the decision by the board at Alder Hey was close, so high was the level of the two competing bids.
The hospital had hoped to announce the winner late last year, the plan being to complete the new Alder Hey in 2014 – it's 100th birthday.
Laing O'Rourke led a consortium that also include Laing Investments, Interserve and architects BDP who master-planned Grosvenor's Liverpool One.
The hospital will be funded by the controversial PFI (Private Finance Initiative) route, though Alder Hey has won praise from the Department of Health, the Treasury and the health regulator Monitor for the measures taken to ensure costings are well controlled.
Alder Hey will continue to operate normally throughout the construction period, using wards built to the design of legendary nurse Florence Nightingale. However the buildings will be demolished once it is completed to make way for new parkland to replace the the area of Springfield Park being lost.
Original Victorian workhouse
buildings will be flattenedDuring the past few years hospital bosses have consulted with the local community and junior patients to get their ideas for the replacement hospital.
The concept emerged of a children's hospital in a park, the first of its kind in Europe.
The new building has already won high praise from Liverpool City Council's cabinet member for regeneration, Cllr Malcolm Kennedy. He has described the plans as incredible.
Cllr Kennedy told Liverpool Confidential: "The hospital trust board is to be praised for choosing an adventurous and stunning design. It will be a landmark building not just for Liverpool but for the UK.
Alder Hey: one of the world's
busiest hospitalsAlder Hey is already world renowned for its care of children and young people, and the new hospital will be housed in what will be a world renowned building. It is fantastic news for Liverpool."
The formal announcement is expected on March 1 and comes just days after the Duchess of Cambridge visited Alder Hey.
Alder Hey started life as a workhouse – with many of the original buildings, dating back to the 1800s, still in use.
It handles more than 200,000 patients a year, making it one of the world's busiest children's hospitals.
