St Columba’s Hospice, Edinburgh, opened in 1977 as a 15-bed unit in Challenger Lodge, an original Georgian building overlooking the Firth of Forth.
It has developed and expanded since then to provide a modern, comprehensive range of care services within its much-extended buildings and in the wider community.
Rebuild Project
Over the next four years, St Columba’s Hospice will be completely rebuilt to create a state-of-the-art, specialist palliative care facility. The entire site will be redeveloped and redesigned, as they build improved patient rooms, better facilities for families and a new Education Centre. The new hospice will enable them to continue providing the highest possible standards of specialist palliative care to patients and their loved ones. It will cost £26 million to build a new St Columba’s Hospice – £7 million of which still needs to be raised through fundraising.< /p>
The first phase of building work started on 29 November 2010. This first phase will be building the new Education Centre at 17 Boswall Road, next door to the Hospice. St Columba’s Hospice will continue to operate as normal while they are building the new Education Centre. They hope to complete this first phase in 2011 and complete the entire project in 2014.
Masonic Donations
At his Installation on Saturday 4 February, the Provincial Grand Master, Bro. Ewan Rutherford confirmed that in excess of £20,000 had been ingathered for the project by Edinburgh Freemasons.