Construction work has begun on a new state-of-the-art facility at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn.
The £12.5m Endoscopy Unit is part of plans to modernise the deteriorating site, after the hospital was granted £20.6m in emergency funding last year.
The unit has been pre-constructed in 56 modules which will be lifted into place by crane next to the existing Day Surgery unit over the next week.
The modules will be lifted over the hospital entrance road one at a time starting Monday and the work is expected to be completed by Sunday, February 13.
The hospital say the module design of the unit will "minimise the impact of construction on the site, such as noise, dust, and light pollution".
The crane will operate between 6am and 10pm and will move ten modules per day.
Laura Skaife-Knight, the hospital’s deputy chief executive, said: “The new Endoscopy Unit is a vital element in modernising QEH for our patients, their families and our staff and will enable all endoscopies to take place in one unit.
“We will do everything we can during the work to minimise the impact of the construction, but we appreciate there will, inevitably, be an element of disruption caused by the work.”
Access for patients and visitors arriving by car will not change, but they may experience a short delay accessing the patient car park.
A temporary bus stop will be in place near the Roxburgh Children’s Centre and main patient car park during the works.
The QEH, which was built with an expected working life of 30 years in the late 1970s, is deteriorating and in urgent need of repair.
Early last year, the roof began to collapse prompting urgent concerns for the building's safety.
Over 200 props have since been put in place to keep the roof from falling in.
It is estimated that the hospital needs £554m to maintain the building, whereas the cost of building a new hospital stands at around £679m.
Campaigners, alongside North West Norfolk MP James Wild, pleaded with the government to consider earmarking the QEH among the list of hospitals to be rebuilt.
More details about the disruption caused by the work can be found here.
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