Contractor sought for Victoria Hospital upgrade

A TENDER has been issued for redevelopment work at Blackpool’s Victoria Hospital with a value of up to £16m.

ESE Project Management, an advisor to North West NHS Trust based at Chapel-en-le-Frith, has issued the tender for the redevelopment of the main entrance and construction of a new multi-storey car park at the hospital.

The new main entrance will house office and retail space, while the car park will have space for 939 cars. It estimates that the work will cost between £12m-£16m to complete, and has limited the number of firms who will be shortlisted to carry out the work to five. The project is due to get underway in September and complete by November 2013.

The trust responsible for the hospital, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, has already begun preparatory work by crating new parking space for ambulances and demolishing a brick building and canopy close to the main entrance.

Sandra Rudd, who is responsible for car parking at the Trust, said: “The Trust is well aware of the issues surrounding car parking to our patients and that is why we are doing everything we can to appease the situation.

“In the short-term, there will be some hopefully minor inconveniences to our patients as we rebuild the Outpatients car park, for which we apologise.

“In the long term we will be creating more parking spaces and a better environment for our patients.”