Work under way on £50m Hellesdon Hospital revamp project

The Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust was awarded funding for a major overhaul of its headquarters at Hellesdon Hospital.

The project, known as the Rivers Centre, will see three new wards built on the site and two existing ones renovated in a scaled-back vision of a previous plan.

Stuart Richardson, chief executive of NSFT (Image: Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust)

The trust had initially planned to build five new wards on the site, which dates back to 1880, however, budget restraints saw the plan redrafted.

It was also originally planned against a budget of £45m, but inflation has seen this cost soar to just shy of £50m.

Earlier this year the trust was granted £38m in capital NHS funding, with NSFT pumping £11.7m of its own into the scheme as well.

And contractors have now moved on site to begin building the centre - which is due to be completed next year.

Stuart Richardson, chief executive of NSFT, told its board of directors this week: "There is already a lot of activity going on down there [Hellesdon].

"It is a very exciting time and I am really looking forward to opening the centre in the summer of 2024."

As a result of the multi-million pound project, the trust is looking to dispose of part of the site to make way for housing.

It has also seen a number of its departments relocate to County Hall, in a deal due to cost the trust £1.6m over the next 10 years to lease two floors of the county council's headquarters.

It also comes following a revamp of Rollesby ward, Hellesdon Hospital's psychiatric intensive care unit, which is now re-open after a closure which lasted the best part of two years.

The Rivers Centre project is due to be completed in summer 2024.