A modern hospital located on the site of the former Beardmore Naval Construction Works at Dalmuir in Clydebank, the Golden Jubilee National Hospital was built as a controversial private hospital by the American group Health Care International (HCI) in 1994 at a cost of £180 million. Massachusetts-based architects created a series of boxes and pyramids in buff brick, concrete and glass.
Having proven an unsuccessful venture in private hands, the hospital was purchased by the Scottish Executive for only £37.5 million in 2002, becoming part of the National Health Service with the specific aim of reducing the wait for surgery by taking on patients from other hospitals around Scotland. Initially known as the National Waiting Times Centre, within months it was renamed the Golden Jubilee National Hospital to celebrate HM Queen Elizabeth II reigning for 50 years. A new two-operating-theatre Orthopaedic Suite, added in 2003, is amongst the most advanced in Europe. Also within the hospital is the headquarters and western call-centre for NHS-24, the patient and health telephone helpline.
On the same site is the 168-room four-star Beardmore Hotel and Conference Centre, originally intended to accommodate the relatives of the wealthy private patients and host medical conferences, it is now also owned by the National Health Service and has won several awards.
The Lancastria Memorial was erected in the grounds in 2011 and a model of the ship was unveiled in the reception area of the hospital two years later. The Lancastria was built here in Beardmore's shipyard but was sunk by German bombing in 1940, resulting in the greatest loss of life in British maritime history.
