Successful Demolition Of Norton Court Marks Next Step In Birmingham Women’s Hospital’s Future

Presentation of a brick from the Norton Court demolition Tilbury Douglas has now completed the demolition of Norton Court at Birmingham Women’s Hospital, with local demolition and remediation partners, Armac Group.

Now that Norton Court and the Dental Hospital on the Children’s Hospital site are demolished, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust (BWC) is one step closer to its ‘Big Build’ ambition to modernise and expand both its Women’s and Children’s Hospitals.

Built in 1968, when it was known as Birmingham Maternity Hospital, the 220m by 12m Norton Court block was originally designed to provide residential accommodation for doctors and nurses.

Over the years, it has housed a wide variety of hospital services including Neonatal Parent Accommodation, Medical Engineering and Clinical Genetics. But as time went on, it was obvious that the building was becoming outdated, unsightly, too expensive to maintain and couldn’t offer the same environment as other parts of the hospital.

With just 40% of the building occupied by 2019, the remaining staff moved out from Norton Court and into the £3.6million modular block Lavender House and other areas of the hospital, before demolition began in October 2020.

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Working collaboratively with the onsite team over the pandemic, the demolition has been achieved according to the programme, with special care taken to reduce the impact of noise, dust and disruption on the live hospital site.

BWC’s Chief Executive Sarah-Jane Marsh, was presented with a brick from the demolished Norton Court building, marking another step towards a brighter future for Birmingham Women’s Hospital.

Sarah-Jane Marsh said: “While Norton Court is an integral part of the Women’s Hospital’s history, it was outdated, impractical and the opposite of what women, men and families expect from a specialist hospital. When I became CEO in 2017, it was clear that the building was failing - not just in terms of modern health care provision but also in providing a suitable working environment for our staff.

“No matter what the future holds, we are now fortunate to have land at both the Women’s and Children’s Hospitals available to build on. The demolition of Norton Court this year marks another positive step forward in our Big Build ambition to provide world-class facilities that our women, children, young people and families truly deserve and that we can be proud of as a Trust, city and region.”

Tilbury Douglas continues to be on site with BWC staff and Armac Group at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, where similar efforts are being made to make the estate future ready. Having taken down the former ten storey dental building, work is continuing to remove the old boiler house and 38m tall chimney. Works will complete at the Children’s Hospital site in 2022.

Richard Myatt, Contract Manager for Tilbury Douglas Construction - Midlands, added: “We have been working with Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital for several years and while we are normally building something new for them, these demolition projects mark both the end of an era and the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the Trust.”