Advertising screens planned for brand new Smethwick hospital
Two digital advertisement screens have been proposed to be built outside the new Midland Metropolitan Hospital, in Smethwick.
The planning application, validated on January 19, show the digital advertisement signs, at three metres by six metres, along the main hospital frontage.
According to a design and access statement on Sandwell Council’s website, the screens would be internally-illuminated by LED lighting, and feature up to 10 advertisements each. The adverts would run for a minimum of 10 seconds on a loop.
The advertising space would be utilised by the Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Trust to advertise health messages, and also let or rented out to businesses to advertise their products.
The statements added the signs would bring “some colour and interest” to the lengthy hospital front.
But Phil Koscien, a planning and advertisement consultant, based in London, said the displays were needed to generate “much needed income” for the hospital.
In a letter, he said: “The advertising screens will have a significant benefit for the Sandwell and Birmingham NHS Trust – and also the wider community – by generating a much needed income source outside of the limited ,and often inadequate, normal funding sources available to the NHS.
“The partnership arrangement will give the NHS Trust access to their own free advertising space, giving a pivotal marketing platform for local and national public health messages, for which there is, and remains, a significant demand throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The displays will be backed by Elonex, an digital advertising firm based in Edgbaston, Birmingham.
In a letter of support, Rachel Barlow, director of system transformation at Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Trust, said: “As the owner of the above site, we write as part of the planning application of a new digital advertising screen at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital.
“Sandwell & [West[ Birmingham NHS Trust are in full support of the planning application.
“The proposed digital advertising screen will have significant benefits not only to the Trust, but also to the wider community.
“The income we will be receiving from our partnership with Elonex will provide significant financial assistance in supporting the Trust and our charity with these types of projects long into the future."
