Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust has released the first images depicting how the main Hull Royal Infirmary building might look following refurbishment works.

The Trust is stressing that at present no agreement has been reached on a final design but work is now progressing towards the planning stages of the scheme which will cost in the region of £7m.

Initially, the work will start with some minor repairs to the building fabric following which work to encapsulate the whole building will commence. This work will include the replacement of windows.

Work is expected to begin on the site in the next couple of months with the installation of the cladding starting early 2010. The whole project will take just over one year to complete.

David Haire, Director of Business Development and Strategy, said:

“We know that Hull Royal Infirmary is an iconic building in the city and therefore people are very interested to know what it will eventually look like. While these are by no means final designs they give an early impression of what the building may look like once we have finished the works.

“Members of the public sometimes ask why we don’t just pull the building down and re-build the Infirmary. The simple answer is that the cost of doing so would be of such a  significant scale it would be unrealistic to expect, particularly in the current economic climate, that level of funding being available. After very careful consideration our agreed strategy is to invest in improvements within the main tower block to bring patient accommodation up to modern standards and prolong the lifespan of this building until such time as we can replace the accommodation within it.”