WORK on a major hospital redevelopment has taken another step forward.

A 500 tonne mobile unit has installed a crane on top of the Thomas Kemp tower at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

It will be used in the construction of a helipad being built four storeys above the existing roof of the tower.

This will allow the most severely injured and unwell patients to be brought directly to the hospital by air ambulance.

It will be served by a new lift on the south face of the tower, which will give quick access from the roof of the building to emergency, resuscitation and trauma services.

The work is part of a £480m redevelopment of the Royal Sussex, which also includes pulling down and replacing two ageing buildings, an underground car park and an expanded cancer centre.

Project director Duane Passman said: “This is a highly visible and striking symbol of the works that are taking place to improve the hospital for patients across Brighton and Hove and the wider region.

“The building of the helideck is just one of many ways in which the redevelopment will modernise the hospital over the next nine years.

“In the coming months the support structure for the helideck will begin to take shape and it will be ready for service at the end of 2017.”