Roads closed after high winds damage hospital roof

Roads closed after high winds damage hospital roof

Gloucester Street and Newgate Street were shut while urgent checks were made to the flashing on top of the old building, sections of which had come loose.

The hospital remained almost fully functioning while the engineers were at work, with roads reopening at around 1pm. Those patients who were unable to make it to their appointments were told they would be rebooked.

The damage comes as the government said it was still having to spend £680,000 on maintenance of the hospital each month, along with a backlog of work costing millions of pounds. That figure was said to include staffing costs for the Health and Community Services estates team, spending on materials and external contractors, as well as Jersey Property Holdings’ maintenance expenditure.

In total, £2.8 million was spent on backlog maintenance in Health and Community Services so far this year across 31 individual projects.

In 2020 that figure is set to double, with plans for more than 30 projects costing a total of £5 million.

Group managing director for Health Rob Sainsbury said that the poor standards of some of the buildings had made it ‘tough’ for staff, and said Health buildings suffered 11 leaks in one month earlier this year due to heavy rainfall.

He said the work was essential and needed to take place. ‘There is a backlog of works and we want a consistent environment for people to work in,’ he said

‘It is difficult at the Hospital as things are moving around all the time with work taking place.

‘Over a one-month period there were 11 leaks in total with some flooding. Fortunately, no patient areas were impacted by this.

‘These works need to take place with refurbishment and repairs including much- needed ones to our mental-health facilities,’

Some of the largest hospital projects last year saw £517,000 spent on fire-risk improvements, £345,000 on lift replacements and £599,999 on ward refurbishments and compliance.

A construction and consultancy firm which helped deliver the London 2012 Olympics were recently awarded a £750,000 contract to lead the new hospital project. September 2020 is the target deadline for selecting a site, with the intention of lodging a planning application in March 2021.

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