Construction site from December

Course set for new Böhler Hospital building

According to the maintainer AUVA, the condition of the Böhler Hospital is even worse than expected.

(Bild: Martin Jöchl)

From December, construction work will begin on the Böhler Hospital site, which will continue to function only as a day clinic. Six months later, a container hospital will enable full operation in Brigittenau. The fact that the old building is more dilapidated than expected also sets the course for the future Böhler site.

Patients, doctors and all the other "Böhlerians" have become accustomed to this: hammering, screwing and drilling is taking place in the hospital in parallel with day clinic operations. An extinguishing water pipe has been installed, and the reinforced fire protection coating should also be applied everywhere in the designated areas by December. December also marks the start of the "Böhler Hospital construction site", which is due to come to an end - for the time being - next year with the opening of a container hospital.

Preliminary decision on future location
The hospital's parking garage is to be cleared in November so that demolition work can begin there. The space is needed to build the promised container hospital there, with one more storey than previously planned: Originally, AUVA wanted to use premises on the 1st floor and, in particular, the intensive care unit on the 2nd floor for the future container hospital, but it has now been determined that these areas cannot be brought up to the necessary fire protection standard.

The hospital's intensive care unit has been empty since last March.

(Bild: zVg)

The fact that the container hospital will have an additional empty floor - the details of which are still undecided - will have a lasting impact on the future fate of the hospital: the old Böhler hospital can now be completely demolished, while the container hospital can continue to provide all of its services. This increases the chances that the planned "health campus" could be built as the final Böhler replacement on the site of the current hospital. There has also been speculation about a new building on the site of the abandoned AUVA headquarters in Adalbert-Stifter-Straße.

New primary care center

Medical care in Brigittenau is also being boosted by a new primary care center. From October, Jägerstraße 61 will primarily offer GP services, with plans to expand with medical specializations.

Container hospital to be ready by mid-2025
AUVA is confident that the container hospital can be set up from next April and go into operation "in mid-2025". However, in order to keep to the schedule, the tendering process must be completed on time so that the contracts can be awarded to the tender winners in December and the containers can be manufactured between January and April, while the parking garage is demolished and the construction site for the containers is prepared.

In addition, a wet riser - i.e. a permanently water-filled extinguishing water pipe - must be installed in the existing building in 2025 and all combustible material must be removed from the vacant bed tower, from the wooden doors to the wall cladding. According to AUVA Director General Alexander Bernart, the entire construction plans are "a highly ambitious project" that will be implemented "in a very short time". In the end, "a comprehensive hospital will be created", he promises.