The Grade I listed North Wing at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in
Bart’s and the London NHS Trust this week published a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union seeking a property consultant to advise on future uses of the James Gibbs-designed North Wing and the adjacent Tudor-built Gatehouse.
The £100,000 contract is for advice on the “restoration, future use and long-term preservation” of the buildings as well as “identifying commercial opportunities” for what the trust terms one of the more significant buildings in the NHS estate.
A senior planning adviser set to bid said the site was already being considered for a luxury hotel or housing development, but could also become student accommodation or offices.
“It is certainly no longer unusual for listed buildings to be redeveloped commercially and, given the sense of place at the site, it represents a particularly good opportunity for a luxury hotel.”
A spokeswoman for Bart’s said “all options would be considered”.
This is the latest in a line of proposals for parts of the historic hospital, which is undergoing a £1bn redevelopment. In late 2006, St Bartholomew’s Charitable Trust – led by Development Securities founder Martin Landau – was preparing to submit plans to redevelop a site it owns on Little Britain as a major commercial scheme.
Those plans, which would replace the Gloucester House nurses’ home and the hospital’s radiology department, have since gone silent, however.
