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21
May
Harrogate hospital to demolish RAAC-riddled building next month
Harrogate District Hospital is set to demolish a building riddled with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) next month.
Officials at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said the hospital’s therapy services department would be flattened to make way for a new facility.
The building is due to be demolished in late June after it was found to contain RAAC, which is a lightweight material that can collapse.
Matt Graham, director of strategy at the hospital trust, confirmed that it had secured funding from NHS England to press ahead with the plan.
Mr Graham said the building will be replaced by a new day case surgery and imaging building, which should begin construction in September.
He said:
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Mr Graham added that the majority of the services in the current department would remain on the hospital site. However, podiatry and speech and language therapy services will move to a new location in Harrogate.
The trust confirmed in September 2023 it had found RAAC on the Harrogate site, including in the roof of the hospital.
The material, popular between the 1960s and 1980s, was compared to “chocolate Aero” and made headlines after it was found in public buildings across the UK.
The hospital bid for £20 million from government to help eradicate RAAC across the hospital site as part of a trust-wide project.
Jonathan Coulter, chief executive at the hospital trust, told the Stray Ferret previously that £9 million of the funding would go towards the demolition of the therapy services department.
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