€250m co-located hospital plans face stiff opposition
Residents have expressed concerns that the Beacon Medical Group’s plans to build a €250 million private hospital on the grounds of Cork University Hospital in Wilton will lead to traffic chaos.
The overcrowded campus is plagued with traffic and parking problems.
Hospital managers have struck deals with neighbouring sports clubs to provide park-and-walk facilities for hospital staff.
However, the opening of the maternity hospital last year has generated a huge volume of additional traffic.
Now BMG wants to build a €250 million hospital in the north-eastern corner of the CUH campus, bounded by Wilton Gardens and Laburnum Park.
The 185-bedroom two-to- five-storey hospital will deliver 175 inpatient beds and 10 critical care beds, a two-level decked 320-space car park to the west of the campus and a two-level 511-space basement car park.
To facilitate the project, BMG had to apply for planning permission to build a temporary 390-space car park at the ESB’s Regional Headquarters on nearby Sarsfields Road. It will operate for 27 months and will cater for displaced hospital car parking spaces during the construction period.
Residents called a public meeting last night to discuss the scale of the project. They cited concerns about the height of the complex, the extra traffic and parking problems.
Senator Jerry Buttimer (FG) said CUH’s campus is at breaking point.
“Extra buildings have been built, staff numbers have increased, patient numbers have increased and visitor numbers have increased — all with little or no regard for the residents.
“It’s time the planners took notice and called a halt. The hospital has had the same entrance for almost 15 years,” he said.
City councillor John Buttimer said he also had serious concerns about the scale of the project and its impact on the neighbourhood.
He called on the Health Service Executive to consider other HSE-owned sites like the former Erinville and St Finbarr’s Maternity Hospitals for the new hospital.
BMG was awarded the tender to build three of the State’s six planned co-location hospitals — at CUH, at Beaumont in Dublin and at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Co Limerick. They are due to open within three years.
