Kidney patients getting their dialysis treatment at Cromer will be in new surroundings from next week.

The finishing touches are being added to a former ward in the local hospital, which will welcome its first customers after a weekend move from its current portable building on the complex.

Patients will be in surroundings that have floral images on the ceiling, thanks to a hospital arts scheme, and some will be in a verandah overlooking the gardens - instead of a disused boilerhouse.

The move is part of the �15m redevelopment of the hospital, which will gain momentum in the spring.

The old renal unit is being removed next month, with a 'nibbler' machine arriving in mid March to gnaw down the boilerhouse chimney, which was when local people would really start seeing progress on the site, said hospital spokesman Andrew Stronach.

The new building, with a glass atrium and incorporating historic stone entrance from the current building, sits on the footprint of the old renal unit and boilerhouse.

After the shell is completed by contractors Mansells, it will be topped out this summer – before the old buildings were knocked down to make way for the car park and landscaping.

This coming Monday will also see a temporary car park open on the football ground opposite the hospital site in Mill Road.

Leaflets are being sent to local residents to update them on work progress at the site.

The completed hospital would open in autumn 2012, and would include art works currently on display including those donated by millionairess Sagle Bernstein, whose �11m legacy has paid for the bulk of the scheme.

The opening will coincide with an expansion of the renal unit by another six stations, in a move announced earlier this week. Space had been left in the former Barclay ward, which has been gutted and re-roofed, for the hoped-for increase in stations.