Progress on Prince Charles Hospital's major capital refurbishment project

In 2017, Prince Charles Hospital was awarded £42 million from Welsh Government to start a major refurbishment programme.

We are delighted to announce that the first phase of the programme is now complete. This phase included new accommodation for the kitchens, main restaurant and barista coffee shop along with a new ground floor location for the pharmacy department, along with various infrastructure upgrades. The positioning of the new pharmacy enables patients to have easier access to the dispensary facilities and will be adjacent to the future permanent outpatient accommodation due for completion under phase two in Spring 2024. 

In October 2020, Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, along with Welsh Government, announced that Prince Charles Hospital was to receive a further £220 million for the second phase of the refurbishment. This key second phase of the ongoing refurbishment work started in November 2020 - with Tilbury Douglas, who originally built the Hospital in 1972, being the main contractor for the refurbishment works. The second phase of the programme is anticipated to take five and half years to complete - the programme duration reflects the huge scale of works that is being undertaken on a live hospital site and accordingly the works have been broken down into various sections in order to keep services running as normal as possible with the least disruption to patients and staff.

In addition, under phase 2, there has been major improvement with car parking areas across the site. We are delighted to say that the key elements of this are now complete ahead of programme and we are able to offer an additional 140 spaces as well as a large increase in disabled parking facilities.  The current focus of work taking place at the Hospital is the suite of new operating theatres on the first floor – these are delivered in two phases, the first of which is due to be complete in the Winter of 2023/4.

Our contractors Tilbury Douglas offer a partnership with the local community by ways of a ‘community benefits scheme’, this means they provide benefits to the local community; they support local schools with education, apprenticeships, young people entering work, CV and interview skills training as well as supporting local community projects such as the memorial gardens at Prince Charles Hospital. We are keen to expand on these local community partnership benefits; if you have any opportunities you would like to discuss please contact Kelly.Edwards@tilburydouglass.co.uk in the first instance.

As with any major refurbishment project there will be certain periods of disruption and noise on the Hospital site – we thank you for your continued support in bearing with us and we hope you will see the benefits this will have in securing the long term future of Prince Charles Hospital while adding significant improvements to the quality of the environment from which services can be delivered to the local community.    

Chris Edmonds, Project Director at Tilbury Douglas said: “As the original contractor who built the hospital back in 1972 – 1975, our involvement with the site is far reaching. We have the responsibility for modernising the hospital and making it suitable for the longer-term. This consists of upgrading and extending the facilities over several phases.

“The overall scheme includes the construction of departments, roofs, atriums, two main entrances, hydrotherapy pools, several new plant rooms and updating car parks, - and much more – all whilst the hospital remains operational. In order to make this all possible, we have an experienced team with on average 150 people working on site every day.

“Working within a live environment, which hundreds of patients and staff are using on a daily basis, can be a challenge but one we have overcome by ensuring we collaborate closely with all parties.

“Having phasing plans in place for many years allows us to create decant spaces. This has included the introduction of modular buildings and refurbished Outpatients and Therapies Departments relocated into other blocks to allow the live environments to continue to run efficiently.

“Working very closely with all stakeholders has been a key element to the ongoing success of this scheme. There is very close liaison with the Hospital, and we have a strong relationship with the Health Board.

“We are proud to be working collaboratively to build and upgrade a hospital which will serve the community for many decades and generations to come.”

14/10/2022