Airedale Hospital plans unveiled
A year on from naming the design team, led by P+HS Architects, the NHS Trust has released images of the new facility ahead of the submission of a planning application later this year.
Also on the design team are AHR and HDR, which specialises in Hospital 2.0 design – essentially a set of design standards, and part of the New Hospital Programme approach being rolled out across the UK.
It emphasises standardised designs, digital solutions, and efficient layouts to reduce construction costs, improve patient care, and impact overall building efficiency.
The wider project team includes engineering firms Curtins and AECOM, Gleeds as project manager, and Archus advising on healthcare. AECOM will focus on energy-efficient building services, while Curtins will handle structures and highways work.
The building will have 100% single en-suite patient rooms, and social spaces on each ward to prevent isolation. There will be larger clinical areas to accommodate modern healthcare needs and more space and improved accessibility for both patients and visitors. Digital technology will also be central to the design, helping to both deliver care for patients and manage the building.
The Airedale General Hospital, located in West Yorkshire, was built in 1970 using unsafe reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, and has been included in the list of wave 1 projects that the government is addressing.
Following a public consultation and the submission of a planning application, it is hoped construction will start between 2027-28.
Chief executive of the Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, ‘Foluke Ajayi said: “This is a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to build a state-of-the-art hospital for Airedale. But it is about more than just replacing a building – we are designing a hospital for the future and transforming how we provide care and services for all our communities.
“The new hospital will be very different to what we have now and is based on the latest developments and best practice in healthcare. It will enable us to work in a different way and support collaborative working with our partners in Bradford District & Craven to provide more services in local communities and deliver integrated health and care.
“A huge amount of consideration has gone into how we can best design a modern hospital to meet the needs of all our communities in this rural setting and we are really excited about the benefits it will bring for both our patients and our staff.
“It will be incredibly challenging to build the new hospital while keeping the existing one fully operational on the same site, but this will be a fantastic development for healthcare in Airedale.”
