AN ANALYSIS of the site of a £3 million children’s hospice is to start next week.

After years of fundraising and planning, Lincoln-based Delta Simons Environmental Consultants will carry out ground work at the site in Fell Greave Road, Brackenhall.

The team will drill boreholes and conduct a laboratory analysis to identify the conditions below ground.

It will help assist in the design of the building work.

This is the first phase of the works – the foundations and building of the hospice will start in the summer.

Sarah Herrett, head of fundraising for the West Yorkshire Forget Me Not Trust, said: “We are very excited as the project moves forward and we are thrilled that, thanks to the support of the local community, we can start this work.

“So many people have supported the charity and now we need their support even more to ensure the service we provide for children and their families is the best it can be.”

Margaret Wadsworth, head of care at the hospice, added: “We are taking the first steps together and we are really looking forward to the day we can start caring for children.”

The children’s hospice will provide care and respite for children and families with terminal or life-limiting illnesses in Kirklees, Calderdale and Wakefield.

It will cost £3.1million to complete the building work and a further £1.5million is needed to provide the care every year.

They currently have £2million in the bank to fund the building work.

The idea for the hospice was first suggested in the 1990s and the Trust was formed in the early 2000s with years of fundraising events in the intervening years.

In 2008 the Trust acquired the 2.8 acre site at Brackenhall from Kirklees Council and work has continued on the plans every since.