For many people in the south of Brent, St Mary's Paddington, is their local hospital. If you have been there you will know the cluster of decaying buildings, taped corridors and scaffolding that greets you.
Imperial College Healthcare now says that it has the cash to carry out the very first stage of planning its long overdue rebuild. A controversial aspect may be that a taller hospital with a smaller footprint will enable Imperial to set land aside for some health linked commercial enterprises.
The full proposals and consultation link can be found HERE while below are some key aspects of the plans. Remember the actual demolition and rebuild will need a massive injection of cash beyond this initial planning stage.
FROM THE CONSULTATION SITE
St Mary’s Hospital has been treating patients and making healthcare breakthroughs since it first opened in 1845, but its sprawling patchwork of aging buildings are crumbling.
With the need for a new St Mary’s Hospital increasingly urgent, we now have the funding to undertake detailed design and planning work.
Our ambition is to build a new, taller hospital on a smaller footprint, located within the eastern part of the current site. This will allow us to:
- organise services, research and staff facilities in a much better way
- keep our existing facilities running while we build the new hospital
- reshape the whole site with an overarching masterplan
We want to explore using the surplus land to expand the cluster of life and data sciences businesses that has been developing around the hospital. As well as supporting better health and care, this would boost economic growth and help attract additional investment in a new hospital.
We need a bigger, better St Mary’s to respond to the changing and growing health needs of our local population over the coming decades. And the need is increasingly urgent if we are to ensure our future in Paddington and avoid major building failures that put services at risk.
We have launched the first phase of a public consultation on the new St Mary’s and wider site.
As we start the masterplanning process, we want to understand what matters most to you.
- How do you use the area now?
- What are the opportunities to be explored?
- What issues might cause concern?
- What would you like to see on the site?
In particular, we are consulting on:
- the overall approach to delivering a new teaching and major trauma hospital on part of the existing site
- emerging masterplan principles for the wider estate, including access and movement, public realm, heritage, sustainability and how the site connects to surrounding neighbourhoods
- the role of research and life sciences on land released once services move into the new hospital.
- St Mary's' sprawling patchwork of aging buildings, half of which are older than the NHS itself, are now in such poor condition that a major building failure is likely within 4-7 years. The impact on patients and staff of providing care in airless, crumbling facilities is immeasurable. St Mary's is simply no longer fit to deliver the 21st century healthcare our staff, patients and local communities deserve.That's why a complete rebuild is needed for St Mary's to stay in Paddington and continue to provide life-saving care to the people of central and north west London.
- BBC London featured the urgent need for redevelopment across St Mary's, the scale of the challenges we face, as well as our efforts to improve our estate in the interim. Watch below (Source: BBC London)
A new St Mary's Hospital
We are proposing to build a new, 800 bed hospital to meet growing and changing needs. It will continue to house London’s busiest major trauma centre, offering a wide range of emergency, acute and intensive care, as well as maternity and neonatal services.
The new hospital will need to:
- Have a flexible, future-proofed layout, supporting new treatments and ways of working
- Put the needs and experiences of patients, visitors and staff at the heart of its design
- Have integrated research and engagement spaces to support innovation and learning
- Include a rooftop helipad, bringing St Mary’s into line with all other major trauma centres
- Respect the area’s history while creating a striking new building
- Be environmentally friendly and support the NHS’s goal to reach Net Zero carbon emissions
A larger life sciences hub
Paddington Life Sciences was established in 2023 as a formal partnership between the NHS, Imperial College London, and a wide range of commercial organisations.
Our current proposals aim to create a space that fosters collaboration and growth.
The new St Mary’s would sit at the heart of a leading life sciences hub, representing an expansion of the cluster of life and data sciences businesses that has developed around the hospital.
It aims to bring together doctors, researchers and businesses to work on some of the biggest health challenges facing society today.
Once the hospital is complete, the wider area would offer new spaces for research, innovation and community activities.
This will help to deliver:
- New jobs and investment
- Training, skills and opportunities for local people
- Faster development of new treatments and technologies.
