Government of Montserrat Accelerates Plans for New Hospital

The New National Hospital Project is being accelerated.

This was confirmed by Head of the Programme Management Office Martin Parlett, who says this would achieve the soonest possible start date of onsite works.

Parlette says this will include the temporary use of the Margetson Memorial Home to house decanted hospital services during the construction stage; while construction of the new facility at the rear of the existing St John’s site will now be completed in a simpler, single phase.

His comments followed the recent visit to Montserrat by Article 25 - Humanitarian Architecture for an intense programme of design review and development sessions with key stakeholders, as part of their contract to finalize the new national hospital’s detailed design.

 The visit, facilitated by the Montserrat Ministry of Health & Social Services and Programme Management Office focused on resolving outstanding design issues, and provided an opportunity for the full team of design and engineering disciplines to engage with users and to refine their various components of design.

The team now return to the U.K. to create the detailed drawings and specifications which will form the basis of the construction contract.

The visit also culminated in a presentation to Montserrat’s Cabinet, where the refined designs, schedule and costings were shared.

Project Manager Hannes De Bruin added that it was rewarding to see the enthusiasm of all personnel involved in the sessions, in raising and sharing service requirements to facilitate detailed design, to ensure that the new hospital represents the best building format to support the health service going forward.

This involves personnel from the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Public Works, Physical Planning and Emergency Services.

The New National Hospital Project is funded by investment from the Capital Investment Programme for Resilient Economic Growth.

Parlette says enabling works will start before the end of the calendar year, while the construction works to convert the Margetson Memorial Home building are estimated to starting the second quarter of 2023.

The main construction phase is estimated to begin during the fourth quarter next year.