The original hospital in
Swindon was the
Princess Margaret Hospital, in the
Okus suburb to the south of the town, which started providing services to patients in 1960 but was not formally opened by
Princess Margaret until April 1966. It has since been fully demolished. The new hospital was procured under a
Private Finance Initiative contract to replace the services previously provided at the Princess Margaret Hospital and St Margaret's Hospital at
Stratton St Margaret in 1999. The architect for the new hospital was Whicheloe Macfarlane, who designed the hospital with a concrete frame. The outside of the building is covered in of cream coloured precast concrete cladding panels which attempt to replicate the appearance of Wiltshire stone. There are six floors providing a total of of floor space. It was built by
Carillion at a cost of
£148 million; it started providing services to patients on 3 December 2002 and was formally opened by
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 28 February 2003. == Facilities ==