The new hospital will cost a billion

Construction of the new building for the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg (CHL) on Route d’Arlon has entered its active phase. The project, which involves 300 workers and nine contractors on a daily basis, is estimated to cost over €1 billion, taking into account price indexation and excluding the cost of the land. Despite the scale of the expenditure, the institution’s administrative director, Paul Meyers, confirms that the project is proceeding strictly within the approved budget.

To speed up the project’s completion, the project coordinator, Armin Weber, and the Ministry of Health agreed on a non-standard construction approach. Work on the façade cladding began in parallel with the construction of the upper floors, enabling the building’s thermal envelope to be sealed before all structural work is completed. This makes it possible to start the interior finishing of the lower floors whilst builders continue to erect the frame of the eight-storey building. In addition to the above-ground section, the project includes three underground levels, which will accommodate over 400 additional parking spaces.

The medical concept for the new building is designed to ensure high operational efficiency. Around 204,000 people visit CHL each year, and the upgraded infrastructure is designed to reduce the average length of stay for inpatients. However, given the country’s demographic growth, the hospital management has already submitted a request to expand capacity by a further 68 beds. The fourth floor of the building will be entirely dedicated to the psychiatric and palliative care wards. As Medical Director Dr Martine Goergen notes, an important new feature will be access to a spacious terrace, which will provide patients with access to the open air.

The structural changes will also affect other departments: the services currently located in the Eich district will be fully relocated to the new complex, and the vacated premises are set to be converted into a sports medicine centre. Meanwhile, the children’s clinic and the maternity ward will remain in their existing buildings, but will be connected to the new main building by a special passageway. The main construction work is expected to be completed this year, although the full relocation and the admission of the first patients are scheduled for the end of 2029.