The Louisa Martindale Building: Brighton 3Ts phase 1 complete

The Louisa Martindale Building, the hospital project known during construction as Brighton 3Ts, Phase 1 has been successfully handed over to University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (UHSussex).

The new clinical buildings at the Royal Sussex County Hospital will provide UHSussex with modern, state of the art facilities where more than 100,000 patients a year from across Brighton and Sussex will be treated. This will transform the experience of care for patients and the work environment for staff. The Louisa Martindale Building will be a flagship building for modern healthcare across the region.

The Laing O’Rourke team, in partnership with BDP and WSP has delivered a 13-storey hospital, housing a diverse range of inpatient and outpatient wards and departments, new diagnostic and theatre capacity as well as increased capacity for the departments with high demand, including, Neurosciences, Stroke Services and Intensive Care.

The bright, spacious ground floor main entrance provides a welcome space, bringing together the various routes to the rest of the hospital. Patients, visitors and staff will also see a new hospital shop and access to an underground car park giving dedicated patient and visitor parking directly beneath the new building.

The handover will allow UHSussex to begin their move-in programme this spring, including relocating the wards from the oldest NHS acute ward building in England, the Barry Building, which has cared for patients since 1828.

With new wards providing five times as much space per patient, the hospital gives the space that a modern, technology-enabled NHS requires.

Simon Maurice, Divisional Director of Operations for the 3Ts Redevelopment said:

“Patient experience and care is at the heart of the design for Stage 1. Staff from every department moving into the building have had a hand in designing their areas. We have used traditional plans and virtual reality to help them understand how their new departments will work and to plan how they will care for patients in them.”

Gavin Body, Laing O’Rourke Project Leader said:

“We have handed over an outstanding hospital to the NHS and I know it will transform the way that doctors and nurses can care for their patients. The project has been one with complex challenges, which have included delivering the new facilities while allowing the existing hospital to keep services running throughout. I am tremendously proud of our team. They maintained focus, throughout the pandemic and beyond to deliver a hospital that will serve the people of Sussex for generations to come.”

During a recent staff visit to the new hospital, clinicians voiced their appreciation of the new facilities.

Mark Sargent, Principal Clinical Physiologist “It’s a well designed, nice space with big open waiting areas. People who are using existing facilities know just how much of an improvement it is.”

Jo Simpson, Directorate Lead Nurse for Neurosciences and Stroke “This is going to be fantastic for staffing, for staff welfare.”

Bhaskar Ganai, Interventional Radiologist “It’s changed how we are able to deliver high quality care.”

Caroline New-Jackson, Principal Cardiac Physiologist “From what we are working in at the moment to seeing what we will be moving into, it feels very exciting for the patients and the staff.”

Patients will start moving into the new building during the spring of 2023.

The main building has a net floor area of 62,374m² and includes: