The new building, expected to be operational in the autumn of 2023, is designed to be fully mechanically ventilated with heat recovery and systems to minimise power and re-use heat.
Start of work follows final approval from government of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s full business case.
Bam Construction was announced last June as preferred design & build contractor. Demolition contractor Connell Brothers completed site preparation work in September.
Final approval of the pathology lab project is also seen as a boost for the trust’s wider estate plans, which include the development of a new adults’ hospital and new home for Leeds Children’s Hospital – and centralising maternity and neonatal services – on the Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) site as well as supporting an ‘innovation district’ for the city by making use of surplus estate.
The new laboratory will allow the trust to incorporate most of the pathology services currently housed in outdated facilities in the Old Medical School at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) as well as some of those delivered from St James’s University Hospital.
Simon Worthington, the trust’s director of finance, said: “Our pathology teams have done a magnificent job during the covid pandemic, despite working in outdated facilities, and have been delivering huge numbers of daily test results for the region’s hospitals. The new laboratory will enable them to work with new state-of-the-art equipment and buildings.”
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