YORK Covid vaccination centre’s ‘Tent of Hope’ is being dismantled - and will be replaced shortly by a state-of-the-art clinical, modular building.

The large new Portakabin building will include six large treatment rooms, a clinical room, a treatment room and toilets, and it will be used for a number of healthcare services, including vaccination clinics.

The large white tent has been used on the Askham Bar site by Nimbuscare for Covid vaccinations since the programme began in December 2020.

Nimbuscare’s chief executive officer, Madeline Ruff, said: ”Whilst it will be sad to say goodbye to our well-loved ‘Tent of Hope’, we recognise that it has served its purpose and that we need to upgrade this facility to continue to offer a high quality clinical service to the people of York.

“The new facility is a state-of-the-art, modern, clinical building, used in hospitals and clinical settings around the world and we are very much looking forward to its arrival.

“It will mean our clinical teams have the right environment in which to work to deliver health services and our population receive the care they deserve going forward.”

A spokeswoman said the ‘spectacular’ new building will be about 40 metres long, larger than the current tent, and around 13 metres wide.

She said the team at Nimbuscare had begun dismantling the old tent on Monday and contractors would begin preparing the foundations for the new building next Monday, with the area having to be cordoned off.

“Nimbuscare expects to take delivery of the new building from January 31,” she said.

“Due to the size of the building, this will be delivered in sections and will take approximately one week to arrive and be installed. During the installation period, the site will hold clinics later in the day as well as at pop up venues.

“We expect it will take up to six weeks to fully equip the building and make the clinic areas fully operational.”

Madeline Ruff said: “This is a huge operation and, like all projects of this size, it may involve some inconvenience to people.

“Our teams have been working closely with Portakabin to make sure the arrival and installation of this spectacular new building goes as smoothly as possible.

“Clearly, this is the largest site change we have had to deal with since we arrived at the empty Askham Bar car park in 2020.

“However, we have the best site teams and support teams in place and I’m confident that everything will go well.”