Council approves plans to demolish old building at Royal Infirmary hospital

Ted Peskett Local Democracy Reporter

Plans have been approved for the demolition of an old building on the site of Cardiff Royal Infirmary.

The former Links Centre building, which is separate from the main Grade II-listed hospital building in Newport Road, is currently unoccupied and is at risk of becoming unsafe according to Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (UHB).

There are no immediate long-term plans for the what the space will eventually be used for but the health board said it will provide a temporary parking solution.

“Parking solutions”

A Cardiff and Vale UHB spokesman said: “In the time since the building on the Cardiff Royal Infirmary site was vacated it has been showing signs of deterioration that run the risk of becoming unsafe.

“The health board is considering the future use of this part of the site but plans are yet to be finalised.

“In the interim the area will be used to provide temporary parking solutions which will benefit both patients and colleagues.”

The building does not class as a cartilage listed building, according to a planning report prepared on behalf of Cardiff and Vale UHB, because it was built after 1948.

Cardiff Royal Infirmary dates back much longer having cared for patients in the city since 1883.

In the planning report the old Links Centre building is described as being “not fit for purpose to deliver local health health services” and it states that it “cannot be viably maintained”.

History

When Cardiff Royal Infirmary first opened it was called the Glamorgan and Monmouthshire Infirmary and Dispensary.

It was known as Cardiff Royal Infirmary from 1923. Before this it was called Cardiff Infirmary in 1895 and King Edward VII Hospital in 1911.

The infirmary acted as the city’s main hospital until the University Hospital of Wales opened in 1973.

It treated tens of thousands of patients as an accident and emergency unit for the city up until 1999 and later benefited from a £37m transformation which saw it include two new GP practices, a pharmacy, and a number of redeveloped existing services.