Topping-out ceremony held for Luton and Dunstable University Hospital's new £150million wards

A topping out ceremony has been held for the new £150million acute services and ward blocks at Luton and Dunstable Hospital.

And staff from Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Kier Construction Group, and Andrew Selous MP came together to celebrate mark the event.

Work started on the site in January 2022, with much progress made since then to reach the highest point of the five-storey buildings. Once it is finished in late 2024, the buildings will give residents better facilities for maternity, neonatology, critical care and theatre services.

There will be more theatre capacity to help support high-risk pregnancies and a dedicated and standalone bereavement suite. In the neonatal intensive care unit, there will be extra cots for the sickest and most premature babies and spaces to give families support before going home.

Melanie Banks, director of redevelopment and strategic planning at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The topping out ceremony has allowed us to celebrate and recognise the incredible work achieved so far by the Trust’s project team, design and advisory Team, Kier, our construction partners, and the Trust’s clinical teams.”

Dr Glyn Harrison, clinical director for theatres, said: “It’s incredible to see how well the acute services block and new ward block is coming along, and this highlights an exciting step in our journey to providing the very best care to patients in the very best environment.”

While Andrew Selous added: “It was a great pleasure to come to this topping out ceremony as this major redevelopment will provide much better facilities for patients and staff, and is an extremely welcome and important commitment to our local NHS and the brilliant staff who work in it.”

Kier Construction’s managing director Stuart Togwell added: “We are delighted to celebrate this major milestone with Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and our key project partners. This event gives us the opportunity to mark the completion of the main structure and also to celebrate the hard work and fantastic collaboration between all parties involved.”.

The new energy centre for the site is set to reduce energy consumption and has the ability to use hydrotreated vegetable oil to lower greenhouse gas emissions.