£300,000 COST ESTIMATED

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29350, 1 November 1960, Page 16

£300,000 COST ESTIMATED

New Maternity Hospital

Tenders for a new maternity hospital at Princess Margaret Hospital may be called early next year. The architects’ estimate is in excess of £300,000. In addition, tenders may be called for a new wing to the main nurses’ home to accommodate nurses who will work in the maternity hospital. The estimate for the new wing is £ 100.000. The chairman of the North Canterbury Hospital Board (Dr. L. C. L. Averill) said yesterday that it was hoped to call tenders for the maternity pavilion early next year. Plans for the building had been approved by the Health Department and Working drawings should be ready by the end of this year. The new hospital will have accommodation for 60 beds in single rooms and four-bed rooms. It will have four main floors. Administration offices, the antenatal clinics, the patients’ entrance and the deliverv suites will be on the ground floor. The three upper floors will be identical and accommodate 20 beds each. The maternity pavilion will be on the west side of the main hospital block and be connected by a corridor. The new wing for the nurses’ home will have 60 single rooms. The contract for the home may be let some time later than that for the hospital. It is intended to have it available at the time the hospital contract is completed.