The bats have been re-homed, the waiting room chairs arranged and the last licks of paint applied.

After two years of refurbishment work the ribbon has been cut to launch Acre Mills – Huddersfield’s new NHS centre for outpatients.

A £9m overhaul of the former wire mill has been completed by Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust as joint venture with Pennine Property Partnerships.

The trust has consulted with patients, nurses, doctors and back-office staff in transforming the three-floor building into a facility fit to serve more than 100,000 patients per year.

Patients and staff that were crammed into corridors of the hospital’s 1960s built building now have their own purpose built areas.

The Acre Street facility, opposite HRI, has specialist areas for children, and the three main senses, ears, noses and eyes.

Managers behind the project have installed all new diagnostic equipment, including x-ray, laser treatment and ultrasound machines.

Interesting new facilities include three padded sound proof rooms for hearing tests, an ‘Artificial Eye Room’, a medical version of a sun bed to treat skin conditions, and a ‘Clinical Investigation Room’.

And it’s not just the patients that get brand new homes.

Bats found roosting in the empty mill have already settled into their new bat boxes while finance and procurement staff have glitzy new facilities on the top floor, overlooking Castle Hill.

Acre Mills is not just about expensive new medical gear, a host of low cost ideas are also set to improve patient comfort and experience.

They include colour coded entrances to the toilets to help people suffering with dementia find their way, and sensibly, easy to read yellow on black signs to aid the visually impaired to find the eye clinic departments.

The whole facility is paperwork free with patient notes available online only.

The project has been overseen by Joanne Womack, who has seen it all at the hospital over the past 35 years, beginning as a trainee nurse and moving up to project manager.

“I’m very excited to see it open,” she said.

“We took on board staff ideas and spoke to patients and we took what they wanted and designed it around their requirements.

“As an ex-nurse I also knew what the requirements needed to be.”

Children’s sister, Vivienne Neville, gave her new ward the thumbs up.

“It’s beautiful,” she said.

“It looks fabulous, we’ve got lots of bright colours and air conditioning.

“I’m really looking forward to moving in.”

Hospital chiefs have thanked the patients and staff involved in designing Acre Mills

Medical Director, David Birkenhead, said: “This centre is a brilliant new asset and will serve our patients and their families for years to come.

“For us, it was vital that our patients and their families told us what they would expect in the new building so we could factor in their views into the final design.

“We hope, that by working together, we have a facility which is near perfect as possible and thank them and all our staff for helping transform Acre Mills. This is a very proud day for us all.”

Six of the patients involved in the two year project were given the honour of cutting the ribbon.

The re-modelled mill has also been a paragon for responsible building as stone from demolished parts of the building was recycled, and wildlife re-homed.

The grounds feature a large pond to replace two smaller existing ones. They are now home to wildlife including 70 frogs and a variety of plants.

The protected Pipistrelle bats were also given new residences with bat boxes installed under the eaves above the main entrance.

A camera based parking system has been installed to speed up access and exiting the site.

Charges will be the same as other hospital car parks which is free for the first 45 minutes. Disabled badge holders will still have the same exemptions as the main hospital site with 10 disabled spaces available.

Director of Planning, Performance, Estates and facilities, Lesley Hill, said: “This has been a remarkable recycling project turning an old disused landmark mill into a modern day healthcare centre for our local communities. It’s been a great team effort.”

Acre Mills welcomes its first patients on Monday and departments will be opening in a phases throughout February and March.