Key hospital projects set to go ahead

Date Published: 03-Jan-2013

BY FRANK FARRAGHER

THE tendering process for the new two-storey car park and Acute Mental Health Unit at University Hospital Galway is expected to go ahead over the coming weeks, the Galway City Tribune has learned.

Planning permission for the new 238 space car park at the rear of the existing hospital was granted in early December and this development is due to proceed in tandem with the construction of the new 50 bed mental health unit.

A spokesperson for the HSE confirmed that the next stage in the process would be the tendering process for the design and construction of the car park and mental health unit.

“The enabling works – the new Adult Acute Mental Health Unit and car park – will go out to tender for design/build in the coming weeks.

“On completion of that process, a more definite programme and budget for the project shall be established,” the HSE spokesperson said.

She added that these ‘enabling works’ needed to take place to progress the building of the new radiation/oncology facilities on the UHG site as part of the National Programme for Radiation Oncology.

The building of the new radiation oncology facilities on the UHG site is part of the National Programme for Radiation Oncology, with UHG one of the designated cancer centres of excellence for cancer treatment.

Up until recent years, cancer patients in Galway had to travel to Dublin to get life-saving radiation treatment. This service is now available in UHG, and it will then be transferred to the ultra modern building once it is completed.

A previous application for a new car park, on the site of the existing car park at the front of the hospital, was turned down by planners mainly because of its adverse impact on the streetscape and its visual obtrusiveness.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.