The project includes a three-storey extension as well as an upgrade to the thermal fabric of the existing Victorian buildings on Steelhouse Lane near the city centre.
The front of the hospital will be rebuilt and given a glass façade. Replacement windows and the installation of a ground source heat pump system with an associated energy centre are designed to make the building more energy efficient.
The extension will house a new elective care department, and a home for a new intraoperative MRI (iMRI) scanner.
The plans designed by BDP, submitted in March, have new secured planning permission. BDP is working with main contractor Graham under a ProCure23 contract. Construction works will begin this autumn, BDP said.
BDP architect director Vicky Casey said: “The ambitious decarbonisation credentials alongside the theatre expansion and iMRI provide critically important facilities for the children of Birmingham and the wider region.
“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 the needs of patients and families.”
Originally opened in 1862 as the Birmingham General Hospital, it now provides general and emergency services for paediatrics patients and is affiliated with the University of Birmingham.
The development is one of two schemes announced by Birmingham Women’s & Children’s (BWC) NHS Foundation Trust in October 2020. The other is a new block at the Birmingham Women’s Hospital in Edgbaston. The build programme for both was costed at £442m at the time.
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