Architects have been selected to design a new state-of-the-art hospital for adults and a new home for Leeds Children’s Hospital at Leeds General Infirmary.
In May 2021, the Trust completed an international design competition to appoint an architect for its Hospitals of the Future project and announced a preferred bidder in August 2021. Following a period of preferred bidder engagement the Trust has not been able to progress these discussions and in line with procurement best practice, started preferred bidder conversations with the Perkins & Will team, led by Penoyre & Prasad with Schmidt Hammer Lassen, who have now been appointed as the preferred bidder and will design the new hospitals in a once in a generation development opportunity for Leeds and the wider region.
Simon Worthington, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Director of Finance and Senior Responsible Officer for the Hospitals of the Future Project, said: “We were unable to proceed with one of our tenderers but, in accordance with good procurement practice the right thing to do was to follow due process and this has resulted in the Perkins and Will team being appointed as the Trust’s Preferred Bidder to take forward this design opportunity.
“The competition process to appoint an architect was very strong with a number of international practices taking part which meant we received some exceptional concept designs. The Perkins and Will concept design is very exciting and will create a fantastic landmark for the hospital and the city of Leeds and we are delighted to be working with them to create the new hospitals.”
The Perkins and Will concept has a link back to the inauguration of the original Leeds General Infirmary by Prince Albert in 1869 – a key aspect which included nature in the healing process by ensuring patients got plenty of light and air.
Daylight, views, and greenery will be incorporated in the latest concept designs with their ability to help relieve stress and support recovery.
The proposed designs will also improve the links to the natural environment to promote calm and restfulness throughout the hospital environment. Included in the new design will be a rooftop plaza with gardens boasting local plants and trees that will be inspired by the local landscape for patients and staff to enjoy.
The concept design now needs to be developed further through a robust design development process involving a range of stakeholder inputs, including staff, patients and partners whilst working within new hospital design parameters.
Perkins & Will Managing Principal, Mark Rowe, said: “It’s obviously a huge privilege to be entrusted with the design of such a prominent site in one of the country’s most important cities. Working closely with the Trust, we believe we can deliver an outstanding building that not only supports exemplary clinical care and treatment but that over time can become as cherished a part of the Leeds cityscape as George Gilbert Scott’s exemplary original hospital.”
The new hospital scheme, which is one of 40 new hospitals the Government has committed to build by 2030, will make a fantastic difference to the people of Leeds and beyond. These outstanding new facilities will benefit not just patients in Leeds, but also those from across the Yorkshire and Humber regions, and in some cases even further afield.
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The brand-new Leeds Children’s Hospital will, for the first time, bring all clinical services for children and young people under one roof, enabling it to expand and meet the demand for its highly specialised services in areas including cancer treatment, neurology, liver, kidney and bone marrow transplantation and congenital heart surgery.
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A new Maternity Centre, one of the largest centres in the country, will incorporate a dedicated midwifery-led unit and co-locate all inpatient maternity services and neonatal services on one site. It will give expectant mothers more choice about how they give birth, helping to make sure they are able to stay with their new babies, even if they need extra care.
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The new adults’ hospital will provide a state-of-the art facility to enhance the already outstanding clinical services currently provided. It will support patients with all aspects of their care, from those attending for an outpatient appointment or a day case surgical procedure, to those needing the most advanced specialist care and support to recover from critical illness or injury
A 24-bed extension to the hospital’s critical care unit will provide more capacity for treating patients – and a new ambulatory imaging unit will bring a state-of-the art diagnostic service, with the new unit at the heart of the adults’ hospital. It will support streamlined patient flows and make full use of digital technology to support virtual clinics and self-check in.
The Adult Critical Care service will provide care for a wide case-mix of patients and this increase in capacity will support the Trust in meeting the delivery of more complex services across a range of clinical services.
The project, to build a new Children’s Hospital, as well as a hospital for adult services in a 94,000 square metre building at Leeds General Infirmary, is still at a very early concept stage. The Trust will continue working in collaboration with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England (NHSE) to ensure that the proposals adopt the newly developed national design standards and ambitions in connection with sustainability, digital and other hospital design principles.
The Trust is planning to start construction in 2023, enabling it to align with the Government’s New Hospital Programme and benefit from the collaborative approach of working at scale, allowing it to share its experience with other less developed schemes, in areas such as digital technology, sustainability and modern methods of construction.
