MILLIONS WASTED AS TRUST MAKES BIG CHANGES TO DESIGN FOR WATFORD GENERAL TOWERS

Millions of pounds have been wasted as the design for Watford’s new tower block hospital  has undergone big changes.

The West Herts Trust has posted a new video and pictures showing selected parts of its new design for Watford General – and it makes major changes from designs published just two years ago.

• At least one block is now 14 storeys high rather than 12 as the Trust claimed recently
• The front section of the new design appears to be several storeys higher than in previous designs. It will restrict the views from the main ward blocks behind it, increasing the amount of shade

The Government gave the Trust £53 million in ‘scheme development funding’ in 2022-23 – some  of that has been wasted as the Trust has kept changing its mind on how to squeeze nearly 1000 beds onto a cramped sloping site.

Just think how many doctors and nurses that could pay for.

This is the 2022 design for the new hospital – the front building was going to be around the same height as the 7 storey multi-storey car park, to the right.

Below is the latest attempt at a design – (from a different angle) All of the front building of the new hospital will now be much higher than the multi-storey, up to 11 storeys.  To the rear is one of the towers – 14 storeys instead of the 12 storeys claimed last autumn. The front building has also been redesigned.

The video is quite glossy (and would have been expensive to make) but only shows one side of the exterior. Here is the link:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=0rDsaa2K_LY%3Fsi%3DXtccS9PdER3spH0l