AS you wander round the unfinished shell of a house you have fallen for, you can instantly visualise how a lick of paint and new furniture could transform the building into a home.

In the blink of an eye, you can see exactly where the table will sit, the shade of the walls and where the windows will go.

Those who don't share your vision may struggle to see past the grey concrete and metal girders.

But for you, it is not such a giant leap of the imagination as the project has become your baby.

Looking through the eyes of my guide Angela Broekhuizen at the stark corridors and across the sawdust-sprinkled floors of the super hospital, I could visualise the finished building in December 2010, when the doors will be opened to the first patients.

Where there is just a pole and a jumble of wires, she can see wards kitted out with state-of-the-art technology and a row of swish theatres.

Where I see a bare roof, she points out landscaped gardens on to which patients will be able to look out.

Bubbling with enthusiasm, the hospital trust's associate director for projects eats, sleeps and breathes the design and construction of the sprawling building, part of a £335 million development overhauling the city's key health centres, since 2001, and knows every nook and cranny like the back of her hand.

And as she takes me on an exclusive tour of the site's inner sanctum, that passion is infectious and I start imagining doctors and nurses whizzing through the rooms like in an episode of Casualty.




Since the metal skeleton first started to emerge in July last year, a side of the building, which will be known as Peterborough City Hospital, has been fitted with a facade in tranquil greens and aquas.

The main plant room above the theatres is becoming filled up with millions of pounds worth of futuristic equipment including silver extractors and coolers and the construction of the concrete linear accelerator bunkers – which will bring a radiotherapy cancer service to Peterborough for the first time – are well under way.

Towards the end of August, the steel structure will be near completion and the remaining section will be finished once the north end of Edith Cavell hospital has been demolished.

Internal fit-out has started in 29 of 104 departments and work on finishing the walls will start at the end of the month.

All new buildings for all our health care
As we reach pathology on the fourth floor and look out across a panoramic view of Peterborough, Angela tells me why just what the new 621-bed acute hospital, comprising an emergency care centre, a hi-tech diagnostics unit, a women's and children's unit, plus cancer and specialist rehabilitation facilities, will mean for the city.

She said: "It's unique because we are the first city in the country to have all new buildings for all our health care.

"I don't think patients realise how lucky they are. It will have a huge impact on the city.

"Another unique aspect is the managed equipment service. It is for the life of the contract, which is 35 years. X-ray equipment and anaesthetics will be replaced on a regular basis and will be part of the building when it's handed over."