Topping out at Pembury Hospital
Yesterday afternoon, I was invited by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust to attend the 'topping out' ceremony at the new Pembury Hospital. Although still very much a building site, the last of the concrete was poured yesterday in the acute hospital building. Laing O'Rourke's Chief Operating Officer Tony Douglas highlighted the difference between the state-of-the-art hospital and the original Victorian workhouse which has stood on the site since the 1860's.
"Topping Out" he explained, originated as a Pagan ritual, where when a new structure had reached its highest point, a ceremony would celebrate the workforce and show gratitude for safety in the construction phase, and wish for safety throughout the remainder of the project.
There was even a potted fir tree - in keeping with the custom of signalling a 'topping out' using an evergreen tree. This custom seems to have originated in Scandinavia arounbd 700AD, where an evergreen was used to appease tree spirits for the use of lumber.
Tony Jones, the Chairman of MTW Hospital Trust used a float to smooth off the last few shovels of concrete, joking that his wife had asked him if he knew which end of a trowel was which! For the people of Tunbridge Wells, this was an historic day, as the opening of this great new hospital in 2011 came a little closer.
