Work on a £163million hospital and cancer treatment centre could be formally given the go-ahead by health chiefs later this month.
The NHS Grampian board approved the outline business case for the Baird Family Hospital and ANCHOR Centre at the Foresterhill Health Campus yesterday.
It means the plans, which have been developed over the last three years, will now go before the Scottish Government in the coming weeks.
Pending final approval, construction on both buildings has been scheduled to begin next spring.
The new Baird Hospital is expected to replace the existing Aberdeen Maternity Hospital from 2021, while the ANCHOR Centre will provide out-patient and day-patient investigation and treatment facilities for those with cancer.
Jackie Bremner, project director for NHS Grampian, said: “This is a very exciting and important milestone which will allow the project to move one step closer to becoming a reality.
“It is also the result of three years of hard work which has involved hundreds of people including clinical staff, patients, members of the public, designers and construction colleagues.
“It is starting to feel real now. In a year or so these magnificent new facilities, which will benefit patients and their families for many years to come, will have begun to take shape.”
Over the coming months more detailed design and construction plans for the projects will be finalised.
Work will also continue to relocate other services at the health campus to make room for the new buildings.
This will include the eye out-patient department moving into ARI, and a new purpose-built Foresterhill Health Centre elsewhere on the site.
Professor Mike Greaves, clinical lead for the ANCHOR Centre, said: “It will provide state-of-the-art comprehensive facilities for the delivery of holistic care to the highest standards, as well as promoting much needed research into new treatments for the ultimate benefit of patients with malignancy and other diseases of the blood and bone marrow.”
Dr Mike Munro, a consultant neonatologist and the clinical lead for the Baird Family Hospital, added: “Whilst our existing facilities have served us well, the Baird Family Hospital will truly be a “step up”, allowing us to deliver state of the art clinical services to our area for many years to come.”
