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Reseach on the Cardiff Royal Infirmary

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  • Reseach on the Cardiff Royal Infirmary

    I am starting this new thread as there is a crossover from the thread about the Scots Guard and the ongoing research in that area.
    My last post on that thread about the CRI is as follows:
    I have had the good fortune this morning to find a very helpful council officer in Cardiff City Council. He works in the department that deals with conservation and listed buildings etc. and he informed me of the current status of the Cardiff Royal Infirmary (CRI) and its future.
    I saw the pictures on the link that Archaic posted that showed derelict areas of the CRI in 2007. The chap at Cardiff City Council told me that the CRI is now covered in scaffolding and the restoration is under way. The building is owned by the Council and parts of it are still used by the local NHS trust.
    The man I spoke to was extremely helpful and has offered to send me a copy of the full restoration plan which should be extremely interesting and he also offered to arrange a full tour of the restoration site if I can get to Cardiff!
    The current status of the building - those parts not in use by the health trust - are now watertight and sound and parts are being mothballed until a suitable tenant can be found.
    I did explain the angle of my research and the JTR connection and he was extremely interested and I promised to keep him fully apprised of my research and any developments.
    Watch this space
    Chris

  • #2
    Some more period photos of the CRI Interior - dates unknown but obviously later than the Kelly era
    Attached Files

    Comment


    • #3
      Architectural drawing and plan of the core of the existing buildings
      Attached Files

      Comment


      • #4
        I've had a speedy communication from the chap at Cardiff Council and will post some bits from what he sent me that may be of interest
        regards
        Chris

        First - a description of the site at the time restoration work started:

        2. DESCRIPTION OF SITE

        2.1 LOCATION : The demise of the Cardiff Royal Infirmary now extends to the whole block of land bounded by Glossop Road, Newport Road, Longcross Street and Orbit Street in Adamsdown.

        There has been a hospital on the site since at least 1830, the existing frontage being constructed circa 1882 but the rest of the site has been acquired and developed subsequently.

        Earlier parts of the hospital are in free gothic style in combinations of pink, white and buff snecked stone, with red Radyr conglomerate banding and Bathstone detail.

        2.2 Later elements are in random rubble and brickwork.

        The more recent buildings on the site are in brick or render and some incorporate sheet steel overcladding.

        2.3 The former pathology building is situated centrally on the site east of the historic core of the hospital and was constructed in 1939-40 to the design of Ralph Maynard Smith. It is noted that Professor Sir Bernard Knight, CBE is reported to have practiced in the building during his distinguished forty-year career as a coroner, he was involved in many of Britain's major criminal cases and the advancement of forensic science. Now retired, Professor Knight is a well known writer of both non- fiction and fiction works.

        2.4 It is a framed building, of three storey height generally, but with areas of four storey construction/extension. The pathology building is orientated east to west on the site and has a distinctive semi-circular element (containing a lecture theatre) at its west end, to which a second storey extension has been added subsequently.

        2.5 The building is in red/brown brickwork laid in stretcher bond with soldier course detail, and has large metal windows of six pane design and a parapet roof. There is evidence of rebuilding work to its south eastern corner.

        Comment


        • #5
          Here is the official site plan as of 2009
          Attached Files

          Comment


          • #6
            This section from the documents may also be of interest:-

            3. SITE HISTORY

            The future of the Cardiff Royal Infirmary Site has until recently been uncertain. Indeed Members will be aware that Policy 23 of the Cardiff Local Plan (1996) , was drafted in response to the possibility that the CRI site might become surplus to local health board requirements and that its disposal and re-development for non-health related uses might be progressed by the sites owners.

            Members will be aware that the site operated as the city’s main A&E hospital until 1999 when services were transferred to UHW. The former infirmary wards and many buildings on the site are no longer in use, or only partly used. However, contrary to popular belief the site has not closed, but is still in use for outpatient and day care services providing consultations to around 72,000 outpatients annually and, in 2008, was the base for 25,500 General Medical Services Out of Hours consultations.

            From submitted documentation, it is reported that in January 2008, Cardiff Local Health Board (LHB) and Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust submitted a Revised Strategic Outline Case (SOC) for Services for Central and Eastern Cardiff to the Welsh Assembly Government. which took into account the outcome of public consultations on the future of Cardiff Royal Infirmary undertaken by Cardiff Community Health Council between February and April 2005, commenting that :

            “Due to its accessibility and scale the CRI provides a unique opportunity to provide a base for the delivery of high quality, integrated health and social care services in the heart of the city it serves. Its development as a Locality Health and Treatment Centre (LHTC) is seen as one of the top joint priorities for the Trust and Cardiff LHB”.

            In response to the submission of the SOC, the Minister of Health and Social Care commissioned an independent health needs assessment, and in March 2009, Members of the Local Health Trust and officers of the Welsh Assembly Government met with Officers of the Planning Department to advise that the Trust have now re-evaluated the future of the site and Cardiff & Vale NHS Trust is now proposing to undertake a phased scheme of refurbishment of the Cardiff Royal Infirmary site at in order to provide the City’s first ‘Locality Health and Treatment Centre’.

            The centre would likely offer a number of GP services, out of hours services and community health related services which would enable pressure to be taken off other hospital sites.

            The initial phase of the scheme will involve the demolition of a number of buildings, (generally later additions and buildings of significantly lesser quality compared with the original core of heritage buildings, and for which listed building consent is sought here); followed by a further series of works to remove later additions and non heritage fabric in an attempt to revert back to an identified ‘heritage footprint’.

            The removal of the buildings concerned would allow for the provision of landscaping and additional car parking facilities, together with the provision of new accommodation for the Community Mental Health Team which already currently operate from the site.

            Comment


            • #7
              Today I have received a mass of material from Cardiff Council regarding the restoration work at the CRI. I will post bits and pieces here that I think may be of interest.
              First is an aerial shot of the whole site from the 1980s.
              Attached Files

              Comment


              • #8
                An alternative plan view
                Attached Files

                Comment


                • #9
                  Listed building status within the site
                  Attached Files

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Some early views. The engraving at top is the building as it was from 1834 to 1881 and probably the form it was in as the time of Kelly's alleged visit. If MJK visited after 1881 then she would have stayed in the central part of the existing building.
                    Attached Files

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      A brief history of the site
                      Attached Files

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Another aerial shot
                        Attached Files

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                        • #13
                          Brief history and views of the Womens wards
                          Attached Files

                          Comment

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