States housing administrator Andium Homes has acquired the Limes in Green Street from the government and work to convert the building is due to be completed in December.
Once permanent accommodation is available for hospital staff as part of the new hospital scheme, Andium Homes plans to redevelop the site for affordable housing.
Carl Mavity, head of business development at Andium Homes, said: ‘We are delighted that we have been able to assist Health and Social Services and the Future Hospital Project in finding a solution to address the housing needs of the junior doctors, who are vital to our health service.
‘Overall it is an excellent demonstration of the positive results that working in partnership can bring. We hope that our acquisition of the site also offers some reassurance to local residents that the site will have a long-term future in the provision of affordable homes.’
In April, the Health and Housing Ministers reached an agreement to use the Limes to house hospital staff, with accommodation mostly going to junior doctors.The cost of the refurbishment is not known.
The Limes, which closed in March 2016, began operating as a residential home in 1974 but was ruled unfit for purpose in 2015.
Medical staff are currently housed at Westaway Court in Elizabeth Place overlooking Parade Gardens. Health plan to demolish that unit and to build a three-storey block, which will become the permanent home for some out-patient services, including the cardiology and the respiratory department.
Despite the States having yet to agree a way to fund the new hospital scheme – the biggest capital project in the Island’s history – an application for outline planning permission was submitted in June.
It formally propose the creation of an eight-storey building on part of the existing Hospital – which currently houses the Gwyneth Huelin Wing and Peter Crill House – and adjacent land in Kensington Place.
The States is due to debate how the new hospital project will be funded in the autumn.
