Western Road and Dyke Road Hospitals dedicated to the treatment of children have existed in England since the mid-19th century: the first opened in
Liverpool in 1851. By this time, Brighton was a rapidly growing town with a history of proactively establishing social, educational and medical institutions. In response to a meeting at Brighton Town Hall on 23 June 1868, local doctor R.P.B. Taaffe founded the town's first children's hospital, the Brighton Hospital for Sick Children, at 178 Western Road on 3 August of that year. Two years later, it moved to the former Church Hill School, a disused building on Dyke Road;
Bishop of Chichester Richard Durnford conducted the reopening ceremony on 14 July 1871. By 1880, his works included residential terraces in the
Italianate style,
places of worship in diverse styles (
Romanesque Revival and
Neo-Byzantine), a
High Gothic working men's club and an Italianate
villa. The building was added to many times; none of these changes were by Lainson & Sons.
Plans for a new hospital The first proposal to relocate the hospital came in 2001, when the
Secretary of State for Health Alan Milburn allocated £28 million to move its services to the
Royal Sussex County Hospital site The money was part of a £1,100-million hospital-building programme which the
Labour government intended to fund through the use of
public–private partnerships. The scheme was put on hold for nearly a year until February 2002, when the government confirmed that £25 million was available and permitted the
NHS trust responsible for the Royal Alexandra (at the time, the Brighton Health Care NHS Trust) to seek a
private finance partner. In August 2002, the trust put the contract for the new hospital's design and construction out to
competitive tender. Applications were received from 26 companies; the trust selected a shortlist of four from these in October 2002. Architecture firm
Building Design Partnership and the European division of Japanese company
Kajima were selected for the design and construction processes respectively.
Recent history of the Dyke Road site 's former hospital building on Dyke Road was last used in 2007. Details of the new building were announced in January 2004—at which point it was also stated that Lainson's buildings on the Dyke Road site would be demolished. Three operating theatres, an
intensive care unit, X-ray facilities and 100 beds were planned. Meanwhile, developers expressed interest in the Dyke Road site, hoping to acquire and demolish the hospital and redevelop the prime central location with flats. Housebuilder
Taylor Wimpey paid £10 million for the site in December 2006, and planned to build a mixture of houses and flats (including some
affordable housing); they submitted a
planning application for a 149-unit development incorporating a doctor's surgery, but Brighton & Hove City Council refused
planning permission in December 2008 and again (on appeal) in June 2009. (The council's Conservation Area Character Statement of 2005 stated that the hospital was "an important part of Brighton life and a well known local landmark".) Taylor Wimpey submitted new plans to retain Lainson's main building but use most of the site for housing. These were approved by Brighton and Hove City Council in February 2011. Work could not start, though, until the council reached agreement with the company over £350,000 of funding towards educational and transport improvements. Several months later, when development had still taken place, the building was falling into decay and was reportedly close to collapse, as squatters and thieves regularly broke in to occupy the building and strip lead from the roof. This prompted the council to serve notice on Taylor Wimpey to tidy the site, make it secure and improve the appearance of the buildings.
Royal Sussex County Hospital site Construction of the new hospital started in July 2004 and cost £36 million. The new building opened in June 2007, and the Dyke Road site was officially closed on 22 June 2007. The new hospital won an award for the "Operational Project with the Best Design" at the Public Private Finance Awards in 2008, , the Royal Alexandra Hospital is one of 27 children's hospitals in Great Britain. ==Architecture==