Ref. 12523/02Diggers moved in last week to begin the demolition of the old wards and outpatients' unit at Savernake Hospital, Marlborough.

The main building of the old hospital designed by the acclaimed architect Sir Gilbert Scott, who also designed Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and Waterloo Bridge in London, will remain.

The Gilbert Scott buildings were the original cottage hospital opened in 1872 at a cost of under £5,000.

They will continue in use as offices for both the hospital and local voluntary organisations and as rooms for complementary therapies.

The day hospital, opened about 20 years ago, also remains.

But the old wards behind the hospital and the comparatively new outpatients unit are to be demolished to make way for the new building that is costing nearly £9 million.

The first task for the developers was to improve access into the hospital from the main A4 road.

Amec's contract manager Matthew Gibson said that, once the site has been cleared, a start can be made on driving in concrete piles to give the new building stability on the hill top site that is covered with a bed of clay.

Clearing the site was due to take five weeks but had been delayed slightly because of some unforeseen snags.

Mr Gibson added: "It is taking a little longer than expected because we found there was some extra work to do.

"Once we have the demolition completed we will be able to start on the piling."

The steel framework of the new building is expected to start taking shape in June.

Last week the diggers started on the demolition of the old ward extensions and day rooms that had been added on to the original hospital buildings over the years.

Much of the existing building and its extensions would have been difficult to adapt to modern health care standards.

The new hospital is being provided under a private finance initiative whereby the hospital will be built and leased back to the Kennet and North Wiltshire Primary Care Trust for 30 years when the trust will assume full ownership.

The hospital site is being redeveloped by the Chiltern Securities consortium that has appointed Amec as the main contractor.

Project manager Ian McLellan said that the new hospital should be open in early summer next year.

After the new hospital has been opened, the southern end of the site will be redeveloped to provide 25 homes which are being built to subsidise the cost of the project.

Without the new homes it is unlikely the new hospital would have gone ahead because the future of the hospital depended on getting planning permission for the building work and raising the finance for the new buildings.

This community gain aspect was taken into account by Kennet District Council when it gave consent for the homes.

The new hospital will stand between, and be linked to, the original hospital building and the modern day hospital at the back.

The contractors have the difficult task of demolishing many of the old buildings and constructing the new ones while hospital services continue in the Gilbert Scott building.

These services include the minor injuries unit, outpatients and X-ray services.

Long term geriatric patients from the Ailesbury Ward have been moved to Devizes Hospital for the duration of the building work.

The patients will eventually be moved back to a 35-bed intermediate care unit in the new building at Savernake.

Eventually the minor injuries, outpatients and X-ray services will all move into the new hospital building.