New Airedale Hospital to be 'state-of-the-art'

Plans for a new West Yorkshire hospital have been unveiled, with trust leaders calling it a "once in a lifetime" opportunity to transform healthcare.

The development at Airedale Hospital, near Keighley, would be 10 storeys high and cost up to £1.5bn.

It is one of seven hospitals in England prioritised for a rebuild due to the use of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), which has been found to be unstable and prone to collapsing.

Airedale Hospital's chief executive, Foluke Ajayi, said it was an "exciting opportunity" for the area and encouraged people to share their views on the plans.

The new hospital would be built on a car park at the rear of the estate, which would allow existing services to keep running, according to the plans.

The development would include 508 overnight hospital beds and 73 day beds, all of which would be in single, private, en-suite rooms.

This is a slight increase on the existing hospital where there are 486 overnight beds and 63 day beds.

The number of beds has been influenced, in part, by the principles of the NHS 10-year plan, which seeks to move more care into the community, according to the trust.

The hospital would also have larger clinical areas to "accommodate modern healthcare needs" and digital technology would be "central to the design".

Ajayi said it was a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to build a new "state-of-the-art" hospital for the people of Airedale.

"I believe the new hospital will transform the way we provide care," she said.

"There's an opportunity for us to build in new technologies and make work life easier for our staff.

"But also, there's an opportunity for our patients to have access to therapies they don't have at the moment, in a way that's fit for the long term," she said.

More than 80% of the existing hospital site is made of Raac, with more than 50,000 planks used in the walls, ceilings and floors.

This year, the budget to carry out the necessary work to keep the buildings safe is almost £25m.

Stuart Hosking-Durn, the director of operations at Airedale Hospital, said the hospital had "reached the end of its life'.

"We're doing what we can to make it safe, so we are remediating the risk as opposed to eliminating the risk, but that's on the journey to a new hospital.

"All roads now lead to a new hospital for Airedale," he said.

Airedale Hospital is one of 16 NHS organisations in the first wave of the New Hospital Programme.

It is one of the seven hospitals which need completely replacing due to the scale of Raac in the current buildings.

When asked about the potential impact on people living closest to the site, Ajayi said the trust wanted to be "good neighbours".

"We're working closely with our architects to make sure that what we design here fits into the local environment and is not out of character," she said.

The location of the new hospital was limited by factors including timescale and being able to keep other hospital services running, according to the trust.

People in the area are being asked to share their views on the plans via a series of drop-in events and mobile exhibitions taking place up to 24 July 2026.

"We're launching our planning consultation process, Ajayi said.

"We want to hear from our communities and understand what matters to them and how this hospital will impact them, so that they can help us in the co-creation of the hospital."

An application for outline planning permission is expected to be submitted to Bradford Council later in the year, with construction due to begin in 2029 and be completed by 2033.

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