IT IS linked in design to the Millennium Dome and the sensational Water Cube swimming complex at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
It will even be one of the most energy efficient buildings in the country.
With a self-cleaning roof, heat blocking windows and underfloor heating, you could mistake it for a hotel – but it’s the new £174 million hospital for the Midlands.
Construction director Rohan Evans, from Skanska, said the roof is made from long-lasting Texlon, a more advanced roof than at the Millennium Dome and the same material used at the Water Cube.
Part of the roof even has a moss-type foliage that attracts butterflies.But the whole development is so environmentally friendly that not a single item has been sent to landfill. Paper towels from the toilets have been recycled as fuel.
The new hospital’s boilerhouse will even use rapeseed oil that will give an efficiency of 50 gigajoules (GJ) per metre squared, whereas most buildings run at 100 GJ.
The beginnings of Walsall Manor Hospital date back to 1838 but when the new hospital opens in May, it will be the first time that every department is linked under one roof. “If you needed an MRI scan or a blood test, you would have to walk outside to another building,” said Sue James, chief executive of Walsall Manor Hospital.
“There was even a little internal ambulance to transport people, but such an old-fashioned approach was slowing everything down.
“After six years of planning, I think I’ll be lucky to make it through the opening speech without some tears.”
It is especially poignant as the development was almost cancelled when the Government temporarily halted Private Finance Initiative(PFI) projects in 2006, which is when NHS bosses repay constructors through a ‘mortgage’ style agreement over 34 years.
