BILL FOR WATFORD HOSPITAL TOWERS OVER £900 MILLION

The cost of the planned 17-storey triple-tower block hospital for Watford General Hospital has soared to at least £900 million, according to expert calculations released today. The West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust is persisting with the unaffordable high-rise plans despite clear instructions from the Government to cut back.

Building experts from the New Hospital Campaign (NHC) point out that the Trust risks wasting £8 million in fees on the scheme, which is the Trust’s ‘preferred option’ but now has no real chance of being built.

A new build hospital, on a clear central site, would cost significantly less to build as there would be no requirement to build such tall buildings.  It could be built much faster too, reducing costs even further.

The plans for the UK’s tallest hospital outside central London, have increased by 50 percent in less than a year. Today they were described as ‘very expensive pie in the sky’.

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