PRESS RELEASE

16^th June 2004

Design Team appointed for new Downpatrick Hospital

The Down Lisburn Trust Board at its monthly meeting today approved the appointment of local integrated design consultants Ferguson McIlveen, in association with Percy Thomas Partnership, as designers for Downpatrick’s new hospital. Their team is completed by Mechanical & Electrical Engineering Consultants White Young Green and Quantity Surveyors Denis Rooney Associates.

Trust Chief Executive John Compton said, “This is a very significant day in the progress towards a new hospital in Downpatrick. We have already set up a series of meetings that will get the design team quickly up to speed with the project. We were particularly impressed by their track record in hospital design and with their proposals for involving the community in the whole process.”

Ferguson McIlveen and Percy Thomas were responsible for the design of the award winning redevelopment of the Royal Victoria Hospital and the new Cancer Centre at the City Hospital.

With a build cost of £33M, the project includes a diagnostic and treatment centre, an ambulatory centre, an inpatient centre and a rehabilitation and resource centre. The new hospital site is located in the scenic grounds of the historic Downshire Hospital in Downpatrick.

The design of the buildings is to a human scale. with materials being chosen to complement the existing hospital and its setting. Whilst providing scenic vistas for all patients, the tiered, stepped-back form of the buildings blends with the existing formal landscape and provides natural daylight and ventilation throughout the structure.

Design of the new facility begins in June 2004 with completion programmed for December 2007.

Ferguson McIlveen employs over 200 staff in offices throughout the UK and Ireland. Their integrated services include Architecture, Civil and Structural Engineering, Landscape Architecture, Town Planning and CDM Planning Supervision.

For more information ring Christina Martin 028 9250 1209 or 07980 620661