Leighton Hospital in bid to extend A & E department

Health chiefs have submitted a planning application to add a two-storey modular extension to the site’s accident and emergency department, which will be installed in the car park.

The modular building will contain space for resuscitation, mental health assessment and paediatric suites, and CT and X-Ray services — as well as administration facilities on the first floor.

In a statement to planners, agents DAY Architectural said: “Architecturally the proposal for the expansion is a modular response to the existing department, working closely with Premier Modular to deliver an efficient, cost and time effective solution to the existing site through extensive contextual research in order to achieve a contemporary solution appropriate to the surrounding environment.

Another view of the extension

“Through a modular approach, the extensions internal floor layouts are both efficient and considered with a sense of inward privacy appropriate to its internal usage, yet external views are maximised from the first floor office and staff areas, forming a clear rationale for exterior window treatment and articulation.”

As part of the £9 million project, the emergency department’s 150-space car park will be closed in phases, with it being completely sealed off by February 15.

That therefore leaves the main and maternity unit car parks as the largest sites open for patients, with latter able to be expanded using moveable water-filled barriers.

You can view the plans on Cheshire East’s planning website using the reference ‘21/0147N’.