Emergency mortuary built on grassland near new NHS Nightingale hospital

Work has begun on building an emergency mortuary in east London in preparation for the expected surge in coronavirus deaths.

The facility is being constructed on Wanstead Flats, Newham, to take pressure off funeral directors.

The site, owned by the City of London Corporation, is less than four miles from the 4,000-bed Nightingale field hospital at the ExCeL conference centre in Docklands.

The London Resilience Forum, which manages emergency preparation in the capital, is directing the mortuary design, build and operation. It is expected to be finished later this week.

Newham mayor Rokhsana Fiaz said: “The facility will act as a holding point before a respectful and dignified cremation or burial can take place to send a loved one on their final journey. Sadly relatives will not be able to visit the site. The land will be fully reinstated once this desperate situation has passed.”

A temporary mortuary with room for 1,600 bodies has been built in a car park in Ruislip, next to Hillingdon council’s Breakspear Crematorium.

Council officials said that it has been set up as a “precautionary measure” in case existing mortuary capacity proves insufficient.

Westminster council is using a temporary structure to double the size of its mortuary in Horseferry Road.

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