The Whittington's board has released £34.57m to start rebuilding maternity and neonatal care. Services stay open, and this first phase runs to October 2027.

The board of Whittington Health NHS Trust has released £34.57m to begin rebuilding the maternity and neonatal buildings at the Whittington Hospital, the nearest maternity unit to Crouch End, Highgate and Muswell Hill.

The trust announced the decision on 10 September. Its board has approved the first Outline Business Case for what it calls the Start Well Estates programme. That releases the money for Phase 0, the enabling works that have to happen before anything else can be built.

The point families will want first: maternity and neonatal services stay open the whole way through. The trust says the work has been sequenced in phases so clinical services can keep running, and that people can still book a birth there.

What the £34.57m buys

Phase 0 is not the new unit. It is the groundwork that makes the new unit possible, and its biggest single element is a temporary home for the sickest babies.

The trust says Phase 0 covers:

  • high quality temporary neonatal facilities, built first
  • the move of the existing Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the Special Care Baby Unit into them, so both can carry on well away from noise and construction vibration
  • the wider enabling works needed before the permanent buildings go up

Phase 0 is currently expected to be finished in October 2027. The trust says redevelopment works are expected to start later this year.

Some of the groundwork is already visible from Highgate Hill. The trust has demolished the large chimney and the energy centre, and has moved the hospital chapel from its old home near the Labour Ward into the Jenner Building.

What comes after

The next phase is the one patients will actually notice. Phase 1A, according to the trust, includes:

  • a new permanent neonatal unit
  • refurbishment of the Women’s Day Unit, the Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit and the postnatal ward
  • interim maternity triage facilities and supporting accommodation

Later phases cover further work on maternity triage, the labour ward and the hospital’s main entrance.

Around £49m of further capital investment is currently estimated for Phases 1A, 1B and 1C. Added to the £34.57m now released, that puts the maternity and neonatal programme at roughly £84m on present estimates. The trust has not published a completion date for the full scheme.

Isabelle Cornet, the trust’s Director of Midwifery, said: “We expect redevelopment works to start later in 2026. Until then, and throughout construction, our services remain open. Our top priority is that everyone who gives birth with us has a positive experience. That will remain our focus at every stage.”

Selina Douglas, the chief executive, said the £34.6m was “a major step towards delivering the modern maternity and neonatal facilities our patients, families and colleagues deserve”, and added that “carrying out a redevelopment of this scale within a working hospital will be challenging”.

The trust published images of the finished design in January. Those plans put an en-suite bathroom in every labour ward room, merge the neonatal intensive care unit and special care into one larger unit, and redesign the triage area and the maternity entrance.

Timeline of the Whittington Hospital maternity and neonatal redevelopment. Phase 0 enabling works and temporary neonatal facilities, £34.57m, finishing October 2027. Phases 1A, 1B and 1C covering a permanent neonatal unit, the Women's Day Unit, Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit, postnatal ward, maternity triage, labour ward and main entrance, around £49m estimated, no completion date published.

Why the Whittington matters more than it used to

This is not just one hospital’s building project. It is the unit that survived the reorganisation of maternity care across this part of London.

In March 2025 the North Central London Integrated Care Board and NHS England agreed to consolidate maternity and neonatal services onto four sites: Barnet Hospital, North Middlesex, UCLH and the Whittington. The Royal Free’s maternity and neonatal services will eventually close. Haringey Council set the decision out at the time, with councillors Zena Brabazon and Lucia das Neves saying they were “pleased about the decision which sees maternity services maintained for the long-term at Whittington Hospital”.

So the building work is happening at a hospital that is expected to take on more births, not fewer, while it is being rebuilt around its patients.

What it means for you

If you are pregnant now, or thinking about it, the practical points are these.

  • You can still book a birth at the Whittington. The trust has said so explicitly, for the whole construction period.
  • Neonatal care moves before the main work starts. If your baby needs intensive or special care during the next couple of years, it may be in the temporary unit rather than the current one. The trust says that unit is being built precisely so babies are kept away from noise and vibration.
  • Expect the site to look like a building site from later this year. The chimney and energy centre have already gone.
  • The layout you see on a tour may not be the layout you get. Triage, the postnatal ward and the main entrance are all in scope for change.
  • Nothing here changes your GP, midwife or booking process. No appointment or referral pathway has been announced as changing.

The hospital is on Highgate Hill in N19, a little over a mile from Crouch End Broadway and a walk down Highgate Hill from Highgate Village. If you are driving, check our roadworks and travel page for anything live on the Archway approaches.

The trust says it will keep updating patients, families and local communities as the work progresses. Its board next meets in public on 25 September, which is also its annual general meeting.

Sources