Cheshire: Ground survey work to start at Leighton Hospital

The work, which will begin on Monday, March 3, 2025, is part of the Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's plan to develop a health and care neighbourhood, including a new hospital.

The site for this new hospital is located to the north of the existing Leighton Hospital, on land purchased by the trust last year.

The ground investigation survey is necessary to inform the design of the foundations of the planned new hospital.

Work will involve drilling boreholes and undertaking other related engineering tests.

This work is in addition to the boreholes previously drilled on-site in March 2024.

Borehole rigs will drill down to a maximum depth of approximately 40 metres to remove a sample of earth, which will be sent to a laboratory for testing where the physical properties of the rock and soil are assessed.

The boreholes will be drilled both on the site of the proposed new hospital and in the staff car park to get a good spread of information from across the whole site.

To support this investigation work, contractors will also undertake enabling works to allow vehicle access onto the new hospital site from the trust’s car park entrance area, off Flowers Lane.

This may cause brief disruption to traffic in this area as vehicles move in and out of the construction area.

This work is expected to occur intermittently between Wednesday, February 26, and Friday, February 28.

Dean Benjamin, construction director for the trust’s Healthier Futures programme, which is delivering the new hospital, said: "While we are aiming to begin the enabling works for the construction of the new hospital in around early 2027, it is critical that we do this type of survey working now.

"This development of a health and care neighbourhood, which will include the new Leighton Hospital, will be the biggest investment in this area for decades, and we’re fully committed to keeping our communities and partners fully up-to-date with the progress at every stage."