DEMOLITION work is underway at Barnsley Hospital as the site prepares for its new £7.3m critical care unit.

As part of the work, a single-storey building between two external courtyards to the right of the main entrance from Gawber Road is being knocked down.

Contractors from the Yorkshire Demolition and Reclamation Company were on site this week, with plans indicate once the building is demolished work will begin on a new single-storey structure in place of the courtyard to the south-west.

A portion of the other courtyard will be kept, while internal refurbishment will take place to existing ground floor rooms – which will also see four isolation rooms and 12 bed bays created – and first floor spaces which will become staff facilities and on-call sleeping rooms.

The hospital temporarily has its pick-up and drop-off location outside the outpatients’ entrance while work takes place.