1970-2000 The largest separate unit

Renovation, construction, times are changing

The change in the ownership led to changes in Pikonlinna, which altered the independent position of the institution. The pig shed was closed down in 1969 and the greenhouses were removed in 1978. Some land which had been rented to a private gardener was needed in 1968 for the construction of a new building.

A committee, which consisted of doctors and was headed by chief physician Eino Linko, was set to plan the use of the newly available Central Sanatorium’s facilities. The executive committee made a proposal in accordance with the committee’s report that the central hospital was to be expanded to 320 hospital beds, which included a radiotherapy ward (32 beds), a medical ward (32 beds) and seven wards for pulmonary tuberculosis patients (224 beds).

Construction of the radiotherapy unit was begun on Oct 31st, 1968. The unit’s chief designer was mr. Veijo Martikainen. At the end of the 1960s and at the beginning of the 1970s the construction operations implemented by the Federation of Municipalities focused on the renovation of the Pikonlinna Hospital, the goal of which was to convert the facilities to meet modern standards.

The renovation and rebuilding project lasted several years, because it was not possible to empty the whole hospital for the renovation’s sake. The chief designer of the renovation programme was architect Antti Tähtinen.

The first stage was completed in 1971. Wings A and B, i.e. the wards were completed in 1973 and the renovation work of the C Wing in 1976. A laboratory and a central kitchen were situated in Wing C. The only parts remaining of the old sanatorium building were the external walls, intermediate floors, heating pipes and the majority of the partition walls. The big balconies or halls that were characteristic of the sanatorium were converted into rooms.

The nature of therapies changed along with the diseases. Pikonlinna was the largest unit of the Tampere University Hospital that functioned separately from the main hospital.