The Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital (RACH)

The new hospital caters for around 75,000 patient attendances each year. RACH provides a comprehensive range of children’s services for children (0–16 years) including acute medical and surgical facilities, ambulatory care services, mental health services, community child health services, dental services, research and
teaching facilities. The service is provided for Grampian, the Northern Isles, and some patients in Tayside and Highland regions.

The building is on five levels and covers 17,000 m2. There are 685 rooms including three operating theatres, three radiology rooms, 77 medical and surgical in-patient beds, eight high dependency beds, 15 day beds, a therapy centre, a mental health service suite, an out patient suite, an A&E department, 22 parents’ bedrooms, a sanctuary and a café.

Programme. Preparatory work for the project began on site in autumn 2001. The building was completed in November 2003 and brought into service in January 2004. Funding. The total building cost is £24.6 million; the budget for the arts programme was £643,000 ex vat: £273,000 from the ARCHIE Foundation; £300,000 from the SAC arts lottery; and £70,000 from Aberdeen City Council.

The RACH Arts Group was set up in 1998 with the intention of engaging artists meaningfully in the project. The Group was made up of RACH staff, GHAT, PACE, ARCHIE and the architect.

Grampian Hospitals Arts Trust (GHAT) was established in 1986 with the aim of providing works of art for the benefit of patients, staff and visitors within NHS Grampian healthcare facilities. There are currently 4000 original works of art in 45
locations from Stonehaven to Elgin.

PACE is a public art consultancy dedicated to bringing together artists, architects and designers to work on innovative public art schemes. Previous projects include Edinburgh Dental Institute, DanceBase in Edinburgh, and the Community School of Auchterarder. PACE is currently curating artworks for a new wing of Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

Mackie Ramsay Taylor is an Aberdeen based architectural practice with a history of designing high profile buildings for the healthcare sector, including Royal Cornhill Hospital, Aberdeen, and Dr Gray’s Hospital, Elgin.

The ARCHIE Foundation was established in June 2000 as a registered charity with its own identity but closely associated with NHS Grampian. Its main function was to raise £3 million towards ‘making the difference’ in the new Children’s Hospital in Aberdeen. In 2004 the appeal ended having raised over £5 million.