New £58m energy centre for Kettering General Hospital ‘progressing at pace’

Mechanical diggers are currently excavating at the site – near the Treatment Centre opposite the Rothwell Road railway bridge – to lay pipework to accept new electrical cabling for the site.

The essential development will replace all the hospital’s 50-year-old electrical infrastructure and also its rented temporary boilers which are currently the hospital’s only source of heat and hot water – and which can cause interruptions to service requiring essential maintenance and repair.

When it is complete in autumn 2027 the new energy centre will renew and boost the hospital’s electricity supply and provide a state-of-the-art power and pumping plant to ensure patients, visitors and staff continue to get reliable hot water, power, and heating for the foreseeable future.

The University Hospitals of Northamptonshire’s director of strategy, Polly Grimmett, said: “The scheme is on schedule to complete in late 2027. Over the summer a number of off-site works will take place including bringing of the main power supply from the middle of Kettering to the hospital site.

“This will require works along Rothwell Road and hence one carriageway will be closed for a number of weeks, mainly during the school summer holidays to help reduce the impact on traffic flow. We apologise for any inconvenience this will cause but clearly it is vitally important that the hospital ensures it has appropriate electricity and heating for the future.”

Once the centre is built the hospital will then run the new systems in parallel with the old systems until they are confident that everything is ‘working well’ with a plan to switch off the old systems by late 2027.

The new energy centre will include air source heat pumps​, circulation pumps​ and backup generators​ feeding into hospital blocks around the site.

High voltage cables that run to the site from Field Street​ include new transformers​, a ring main around the site, a new substation on site and connection to existing substations.

​Other enabling works for the rebuild are also under way. At the bottom of Rothwell Road near the railway bridge works have begun to clear some land ready for a new multi-storey car park.

The build will begin later in summer 2026 with construction lasting about 16 months. This facility will provide 650 spaces, EV charging points, cycle parking and change facilities, and significantly improve the experience and ease with which our patients and visitors can access the site, the hospital says.

Ms Grimmett added: “Both of these projects are key enabling works for the proposed rebuild of the hospital itself, currently planned to begin from 2032-34 as part of phase two of the national New Hospital Programme.

“Subject to national support and funding availability we remain confident we could begin earlier than this date as our plans are well progressed. We continue to work closely with the national New Hospital Programme on all our current works and future plans.”