The Royal Bournemouth Hospital celebrates ‘topping out’ milestone

Last week, the Royal Bournemouth Hospital celebrated a major milestone, with a formal topping out ceremony for its new BEACH Building.

Lord Markham, Under Secretary of State for the Department of Health and Social Care, and Jacqueline Smith, Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset, attended the event alongside a number of staff from University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust (UHD), including Chief Executive, Siobhan Harrington, and Dr Isabel Smith, UHD’s Medical Director for transformation. The event was hosted by Integrated Health Projects (IHP), an alliance between Sir Robert McAlpine and VINCI Building UK, as represented by executive partner and IHP board member, Hector McAlpine.

As part of the ceremony, dating back to the Roman era, the guests were led to the top of the BEACH Building by a bagpiper where a symbolic tightening of bolts took place, and an evergreen bough was nailed to the structure. This was followed by an exchange of tankards to symbolise a job well done.

The BEACH Building is a 23,000m² complex standing six storeys tall – equivalent to 115 tennis courts. It contains a new maternity unit and children’s unit, as well as an enhanced emergency department, larger than the existing facilities at the Royal Bournemouth and Poole Hospital combined, and a critical care unit with capacity for 30 beds. When it opens in Spring 2025, it will enable the Royal Bournemouth Hospital to become the major emergency hospital for Dorset.

Lord Markham, Under Secretary of State for the Department of Health and Social Care, said: “It was an honour to attend the topping out ceremony of Royal Bournemouth Hospital’s new BEACH Building, backed by over £168m of government investment.

“This building will improve birth, emergency and critical care services, and children's health services, making a significant difference in helping cut waiting times for patients in Dorset by serving nearly 145,000 patients a year.

“We continue to work closely with the NHS to improve services and this new building is part of over 70 hospital upgrades we’re delivering across the country, on top of 40 new hospitals.”

John Roberts, Managing Director at IHP and VINCI Building, said: “IHP are proud to be part of today and achieving this major milestone in the construction of the new facility here at Bournemouth Hospital. The project represents significant investment in the UHBP site to provide a brand-new state of art A&E department. This scheme will serve local people in the city, Poole and wider Dorset community providing improved patient journeys and outcomes for years to come.”