21. Nov 2003 10:49 31. Jan 2004 18:06

Hospital History

The hospital, on the Øya peninsula of Trondheim, is more than 100 years old. It opened in 1902 as Trondhjem Sygehus. 

	Trondhjem Sygehus - The original main building from 1902 forms a part of the new hospital project.

Since then, advances in treatment and in the technology have led to changes in the need for hospital spaces and resources. Centralization and large-scale operation are no longer the key factors they used to be.

Fifty years ago, in 1948, it became the Trondheim Central Hospital, jointly owned by the municipality of Trondheim and Sør-Trøndelag county. At the end of the 1950s it was expanded with the construction of a tower block, which has become a landmark in the city. In 1974, it was given regional status, and renamed the Trondheim Regional Hospital (RiT).

	An area photo from 1936

Sør-Trøndelag county prepared a development plan for the organization, operation and extension of the new university hospital in Trondheim in 1991, which was approved by the State in 1993.

An international architectural competition for the design of the hospital was won by FRISK Arkitekter and Ernst & Young. In August 1995, the county council agreed to use the winning entry as the basis for RiT’s development plan. The plan was finished in 1996 - and in June 1997 the Storting [Norwegian parliament] approved the county councils decision to develop a new university hospital in Trondheim.

	St. Olavs Hospital - then RIT - in 1998

After an increase in the cost estimates, a new agreement was entered into with the State in September 1999. The project has since been developed, reviewed and analysed at many levels. During the spring of 2001, the Government decided to postpone the start of the building programme to evaluate an alternative location (Dragvoll). The next year, however, the Storting decided to build the university hospital at Øya based on the plans for Phase 1 of the building programme.

In January 2002 the hospital was taken over by the Norwegian state, and renamed St. Olavs Hospital.