Plans for a BDP-designed expansion and upgrade to Birmingham Children’s Hospital have been approved by Birmingham City Council’s Planning Committee.
As part of the decarbonisation of the healthcare estate, the plans deliver an upgrade to the thermal fabric of the existing Victorian buildings on Steelhouse Lane. Architects, BDP, explain that ‘a radical transformation of the front of the hospital’ will see a new, striking glass façade creating a welcoming arrival space which ‘celebrates and enhances the original features of the courtyard setting’. Replacement windows and the installation of a ground source heat pump system with an associated energy centre will, BDP explained, ensure that the structure is as energy-efficient and sustainable as possible.
The proposal also includes a new, three-storey elective care hub on the site, funded by the national COVID-19 Recovery Programme, which will house a new ‘state-of-the-art’ intraoperative MRI (iMRI) machine – reducing the need for some children elsewhere in the UK for treatment. BDP said: “Additional theatre facilities will reduce backlog waiting lists for elective procedures, improving clinical outcomes for high acuity trauma and neurological surgeries, while the expansion and recladding of the existing buildings on Loveday Street will enhance the material performance of the building for the future.”
Max Martin, Principal at BDP, said: “Through a combination of redevelopment and refurbishment our project at Birmingham Children’s Hospital will create a modern healthcare facility that can sustain the world-class provision of paediatric services in the heart of Birmingham city centre.
“The sympathetic reimagining of the historic Victorian courtyard will provide the Trust with a modern main entrance, re-creating a sense of arrival that celebrates the building’s origins while meeting patients’ and families’ needs. We are incredibly proud to be designing these projects for such an important anchor institution in Birmingham, helping it shape the future of healthcare provision for its staff and children in the West Midlands.”
Originally opened in 1862 as the Birmingham General Hospital, Birmingham Children’s Hospital now provides general and emergency services for paediatrics patients in Birmingham and the West Midlands, and is affiliated with the University of Birmingham. A centre of excellence for specialist paediatric care services, its facilities include a national liver and small bowel transplant centre, a paediatric intensive care unit, cancer treatment services, epilepsy surgery services, a trauma centre, and CAMHS services.
BDP’s town planning team submitted the planning application and listed building consent to the Planning Committee and Birmingham Conservation and Heritage Panel in March 2023.
BDP is working with Graham under a P23 contract, with construction works set to start this Autumn.
