Bro Ddyfi Community Hospital – regeneration & retrofit

The Bro Ddyfi Community Hospital Regeneration project transformed a historic 19th-century hospital into a modern, multi-disciplinary healthcare facility, providing mental health services, outpatient care, and specialist clinics for the local community.

This landmark project preserved the hospital’s architectural heritage while introducing state-of-the-art healthcare infrastructure, ensuring sustainability, efficiency, and long-term resilience.

Undertaken within a live hospital environment, the project required a carefully phased approach, balancing patient care continuity, conservation area constraints, and structural complexities. Despite tight public sector budget constraints and unforeseen challenges, the regeneration project delivered an exceptional healthcare facility, setting a benchmark for sustainable hospital refurbishments in Wales.

Project Delivery

This highly complex project required meticulous planning, stakeholder engagement, and innovative construction methods to preserve the historic hospital building while integrating modern clinical and sustainable features.

Key Challenges:

• Preserving the historic hospital façade, requiring specialist conservation techniques to stabilise fragile lime mortar and Welsh slate structures.
• Working within a live hospital, requiring phased construction sequencing to avoid service disruptions for patients and staff.
• Asbestos management, with an innovative trenching solution reducing exposure risks and accelerating the programme by 10 weeks.
• Unforeseen structural issues, including unstable stonework, deteriorated timber flooring, and a buried 19th-century well, requiring engineering reconfigurations and collaboration with Welsh heritage authorities.
• Supply chain disruptions due to Covid-19 and Brexit, mitigated through early procurement and supplier collaboration.
• Despite these challenges, the project was delivered within a 21-week extension agreed with the client, ensuring cost-effective, high-quality outcomes.

Heritage-led regeneration & modern healthcare design

The Bro Ddyfi Community Hospital now serves as a high-performance, patient-centred healthcare facility, integrating:

• Specialist treatment spaces, including adult mental health services, outpatient clinics, and maternity & paediatric care.
• A solar-integrated slate roof, maintaining historic character while generating renewable energy.
• Electric vehicle charging infrastructure, supporting low-carbon patient and staff transport.
• Triple-glazed heritage-style windows, improving thermal efficiency while preserving architectural integrity.
• Improved thermal insulation, ensuring long-term energy savings and enhanced patient comfort.

The project retained and enhanced the hospital’s distinctive historic character, while seamlessly integrating cutting-edge sustainability features to future-proof healthcare delivery.

Sustainability & Environmental Commitment

In alignment with Welsh Government’s Net Zero Carbon strategy, the project incorporated:

• Solar slate roof panels, generating renewable energy while respecting conservation requirements.
• Enhanced building fabric performance, including triple glazing and upgraded insulation.
• "Power-sharing" EV charging points, maximising efficiency for low-carbon transport.
• Reuse of structural materials, minimising waste and reducing embodied carbon.
• Asbestos containment strategy, eliminating the need for full-scale removal while ensuring long-term safety.

Through heritage-sensitive low-carbon design, the project exceeded energy efficiency expectations, providing long-term sustainability benefits for Powys Health Board.

Community & Social Impact

Beyond delivering a state-of-the-art healthcare facility, the project played a pivotal role in supporting the local economy and fostering community engagement.

Two local site managers appointed, strengthening community ties and on-the-ground engagement.

The revitalised Bro Ddyfi Community Hospital now enhances local healthcare provision, while protecting a much-loved community asset for future generations.

Client Feedback

Wayne Tannahill, Associate Director of Capital, Estates and Property, Powys Teaching Health Board:

"Powys Teaching Health Board were delighted to partner with Willmott Dixon to breathe new life into the Bro Ddyfi Community Hospital in Machynlleth. The much-loved community hospital was in significant need of modernisation, and the £15M investment from Welsh Government has transformed it into a cutting-edge facility. Willmott Dixon has delivered a legacy project that balances conservation with innovation, ensuring that the hospital will serve the community for generations to come."