A multi-million pound scheme to create a new children's hospital in Brighton has entered the next phase.

An advert seeking companies interested in building it has had a large response.

Twenty-six developers have replied to the request from Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The hospital will be built in the grounds of the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Eastern Road, Brighton, and replace the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children in Dyke Road.

About ten of the companies will now be asked to submit further details by September 23 before they are whittled down to a shortlist of four by October 17.

It is expected to take at least a year before the trust decides which company will work on the £30 million project.

A hospital spokesman said: "It is going to be a very busy and intensive year. The trust needs to make sure it has got exactly the right company for the job."

The development is being funded through a Government private finance initiative.

The Royal Alex is based in crumbling Victorian buildings.

It would cost tens of thousands of pounds a year just to keep the site up to a basic standard.

Relocating to the Royal Sussex will mean facilities such as the MRI and CT scanners and pathology lab are closer.

The development was approved in principle by Health Secretary Alan Milburn last year and given the go-ahead in February.

About 10,000 outpatients and more than 5,000 in-patients are treated at the Royal Alex each year.

Work on building the hospital is due to start in 2004 and it is expected to open in 2007.

The Royal Sussex's renal unit is being demolished to make way for the development and a new one will be built at the top of the hospital's multi-storey car park.