Cork University Hospital to begin construction on helipad and pediatric care building
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Construction is set to start on the long-awaited helipad as well as the new pediatric care building on the Cork University Hospital (CUH) campus, it has been announced.
Works for the helipad should be completed by the end of 2023 and when finished it will serve CUH as the level 1 trauma centre for the South of Ireland.
The pediatric care building is due to provide centralised children’s services for Cork City and the south of Ireland, including new inpatient wards with single rooms and parent sleeping facilities, high-dependency rooms, palliative/end of life care rooms as well as disability access rooms, pediatric operating theatres, pediatric radiology space, a new school, children’s play/recreation facilities, a haematology/oncology unit for children with cancers.
Planning for the helipad has been in place since July 2019, and almost €2m in funding has been secured to build it but a series of delays, compounded by the covid pandemic, halted the long-awaited project for more than two years.
However a spokesperson for CUH said "both projects have been separately granted planning permission by Cork City Council".
The spokesperson said: "CUH are set to commence advance works on the construction of the pediatric care building and helipad projects in the northern section of the CUH campus as part of the HSE’s investment in the development and enhancement of quality healthcare at the hospital."
Some of the advance works that are set to be carried out include tree removal works, which will then be followed by the "rerouting and undergrounding of the overhead powerline."
"The necessary work that will take place will include the realignment of the existing northern campus road, the undergrounding of the existing overhead power line along the northern boundary of the hospital and the removal of existing trees and shrubs along the northern boundary embankment, which were planted in the 1980s," the statement read.
"The tree removal works will be undertaken by a specialist tree care company in full compliance with health and safety legislation, with prior inspection of a nesting bird and bat survey by a qualified ecologist. The retained hedgerow along the northern boundary of the hospital will be retained and protected during the works.
"Once safely underground, works will progress to the realignment of the campus road, with construction of a new retaining wall by the spring 2024. The helipad works in their entirety should be completed by the end of 2023."
CUH chief David Donegan said: “This is a welcome development in the progress of the two projects. It is necessary work to ensure that CUH can provide better specialist care to the patients across the South of Ireland who use our services, to centralise paediatric hospital care in Cork, as well as to provide much quicker access for patients being airlifted into and out of Cork in an emergency.”