Approval Won for New Hospice
25th July 2008
Planning has been approved for the £13.5m redevelopment of St Barnabas House hospice on a site of archaeological importance in Worthing. Property and construction consultancy Robinson Low Francis (RLF) will project manage the scheme, with engineering and environmental consultant Gifford providing archaeological advice, and civil, structural and environmental engineering services.
The hospice will be situated half a mile from its current site. Trial investigations on the site have revealed Neolithic, Bronze Age and Roman remains, which will be excavated by archaeologists before building work begins in early 2009. The hospice is due for completion in 2010.
The new hospice will have 20 beds, compared to the present 15. There will also be specialist therapy rooms, improved facilities for day hospice patients and greatly enhanced gardens.
Hugh Lowson, chief executive of St Barnabas House, said: ‘Our current building was constructed with a projected 25 year lifespan. With careful maintenance, it has lasted 35 years but I am delighted that we can now look forward to the new building, which will be an improved environment for our patients and their families.”
Nigel Rippon, associate partner at RLF in Brighton, added: “It’s very exciting that we can now begin work on the new hospice. We are already working on a wide variety of projects in Sussex and we are delighted to be involved with a scheme that will have such a significant impact for the local community.”
Phil Emery, associate archaeologist at Gifford, said: “This is a rare site at the foot of the South Downs on the coastal plain – a tract of prehistoric landscape characterised by shifting settlement. Unlike sites on top of the Downs which are readily visible, those on the coastal plain tend to be concealed and protected by a blanket of accumulated sediment. Our task is to ensure that the investigations are scientifically rigorous, accessible to the public, and undertaken efficiently, allowing St Barnabas and the project team to start the construction phase on schedule.”
Ends
Media Contact, RLF:
Kate Jones
Mandate
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3128 8130
Email: kate.jones@yourmandate.com
Media Contact, St Barnabas House:
Janet Parsons
Communications Manager
Direct line 01903 524106
Email janet.parsons@stbh.org.uk
Website www.stbh.org.uk
Notes to Editors:
About RLF
Robinson Low Francis (RLF) is a UK firm of construction and property consultants, with over 100 years of experience in the industry. The company provides services to public and private sector clients and is currently involved in projects with a total value well in excess of £1billion.
RLF has 170 staff spread across seven offices in the UK (Birmingham, Brighton, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Manchester and Stevenage) and one in Malta and was recently voted one of the UK’s top professional services firms in the “MPF100 Best Professional Firms to Work For” survey.
Key areas of work are quantity surveying, project management, engineering services, building surveying, management consulting, health and safety services and more recently specialist sustainability advice to meet the major environmental changes in the industry.
RLF works across the commercial, education, government & defence, healthcare, industrial, office, residential, retail and sport & leisure sectors, to provide clients with innovative solutions to their construction and property needs. Clients include Royal Mail, John Lewis, Grosvenor, Pfizer and Barclays. For more information visit www.rlf.co.uk
About Gifford
Gifford is one of the UK’s largest independent engineering and environmental consultancies with three core Centres of Excellence: Buildings, Civil Engineering and Environment Development Planning. Gifford’s 850 technical and specialist staff combine art and science to create buildings and deliver infrastructure projects that work commercially, socially and environmentally for clients and users. Its teams provide specialist advice on heritage and archaeologically sensitive projects, development and regeneration, the environment and transport planning.
About St Barnabas House
St Barnabas is a charity whose aim is to provide high quality specialist palliative care both within the hospice and in the comfort of patients’ homes treating adults with advanced progressive life-limiting illnesses. We offer a range of services - pain control, symptom relief, skilled nursing care, counselling, complementary therapies, spiritual care, physiotherapy, reminiscence, and bereavement support for families and relatives.
Patients in our care can expect to be valued and given time, to be accorded respect, privacy and dignity, to be responded to with empathy, especially when in distress, to be listened to and for communication to be sensitive and honest and, finally, to be shown understanding of individual beliefs, lifestyle and culture.
It costs over £4 million each year to run the Hospice and only a small part of these costs are state funded. This means that the majority of the money has to be raised through voluntary donations from local communities within the Worthing, Adur and Arun areas.
Patients are never charged for their care at St Barnabas and we depend on the generosity of the public, local organisations, our network of Friends Groups and fundraising events and activities to help raise the balance needed to maintain the high standard of care and comfort we provide to our local community.