Crumbly concrete: Hospital bosses move to ‘address critical structural and safety concerns’ with power supply
Electrical generators at a Shropshire hospital sit directly below a crumbly concrete roof which has already been propped up, a planning application has said.
The generators at the Energy Centre at Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford supply more than half of the energy for the site but are themselves more than 35 years old and “overdue an upgrade and replacement".
Now a planning application has been lodged with planners at Telford & Wrekin Council for new standby generators to be placed on a small staff car park which has 16 spaces.
“The existing generators at Princess Royal Hospital sit directly below RAAC (Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete) roof panels in the existing Energy Centre,” said the planning application made on behalf of the Shrewsbury & Telford Hospitals Trust (SaTH).
“The Energy Centre supplies 60 per cent of the site and has already had emergency remedial works to prop up cracked RAAC panels above the HV DNO intake.
“The generators are also circa 35-plus years old and are overdue an upgrade and replacement.”
No demolition is proposed on the site, which is located north of the hospital on an existing staff car park and adjacent to the boiler house and loading bay.
“New standby generators, along with their accompanying bulk storage tanks, will be installed as the aim of the proposal is to increase the resilience within the hospital’s electrical infrastructure and assist with the trust’s decarbonisation program towards net zero," the application said.
A design and access statement provided with the planning application added that the need for the concrete’s removal and replacement is ‘paramount to ensure the structure’s safety and continued electrical supply to the site'.
It added that the existing electrical infrastructure, originally installed several decades ago, is “beyond its economic life and no longer compliant with modern regulations, which imposes some operational limitations".
“The existing system also does not have sufficient capacity to handle future net zero aspirations.”
The new standby generator would provide “new standby backup power and support various hospital departments, including the mortuary, elderly care, endoscopy and biomedical engineering".
“The installation of the proposed standby generators at Princess Royal Hospital is an important upgrade to ensure compliance with regulatory standards, improve resilience, and provide reliable standby power to critical hospital departments.”
Councillors at Hadley and Leegomery Parish Council took their chance to give their opinions on the plans at a meeting on Tuesday (February 4).
Councillor Andrew Benion (Conservatives) said people visiting the hospital already park in residential streets.
“The hospital should not be thinking about removing any parking spaces,” he said.
He also wants more information about the storage of fuel for the generator and over possible noise.
But Councillor David Brown (Independent) said the plan was to replace “very aged generators” and they want to “make sure that the hospital has sufficient power if energy goes down.”
He added that if PRH became a planned care site under hospital transformation plans there will not be such a demand for parking spaces.
The council agreed to put comments to Telford & Wrekin Council, which will be making the decision.
A spokesperson for SaTH said: “We are pleased to have been allocated multi-million pound funding, to be released in phases, to remove RAAC identified at Princess Royal Hospital.
“Following extensive surveys, RAAC were identified in the kitchen area and a small, non-clinical compound.
“Our Estates team undertakes regular RAAC monitoring in line with IStructE guidance and has temporary restrictions in place to ensure the safety for everyone.”
The spokesperson added that any parking spaces lost during these “necessary construction works” will be replaced elsewhere on site by the end of the scheme.
“The trust anticipates a net loss of zero spaces,” the spokesperson added.
The application is out for public consulation on the Telford & Wrekin Council planning portal with the reference TWC/2025/0068.
