It's like a building site at the moment. The floors and walls are a mess. Why is there dust everywhere? It's so noisy with all the construction work going on.

These are common concerns raised by visitors to the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

Parts of the facility, such as the one-year-old multi-million pound renal unit, are state-of-the-art, bright, spacious and easy to clean.

In stark contrast, the main Barry Building has put up with leaking roofs, damaged floors and cramped conditions.

The problem? It was built in 1838. It is an old building with an old building's problems.

Director of facilities Lee Soden has just invested £2 million on patching up the Barry Building and its neighbour the Jubilee Building.

The walls have been given a protective coating, drainpipes and windows have been replaced, flooring is being ripped up and replaced and, most important, the roof has been replaced.

Mr Soden said: "The roof was the main concern because it was letting water in .

"In the last year between 12 and 20 beds in the area had to be closed because of damage caused by water. The windows were old fashioned and getting damp and warped as well.

"Now most of the work has been done, especially on the outside, and that should be guaranteed for the next ten years."

By the end of that ten years the hospital trust hopes to have replaced or at least be replacing the old buildings with purpose-built modern ones.

In the meantime, it has to manage those it has.

There is always something that needs doing - not just at the Royal Sussex but at the other hospitals run by the trust as well.

There is a £15 million backlog of repairs and refurbishment that needs to be done to bring the buildings up to a basic standard.

The difficulty is deciding what are the most important areas to focus on, bearing in mind that the trust still has to provide a 21st Century health service in 19th Century buildings.

In the meantime the work goes on.

There are 17 different contractors working on developments across the trust at the moment.

These range from those working on installing a new operating theatre at the Royal Sussex and refurbishing the other six at a cost of more than £11 million to the £36 million children's hospital.

Other projects include the new orthopaedic treatment centre at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath and the new £10.2 million education centre.

It doesn't stop there.

There are plans for a new breast cancer day-patient unit at Rosaz House, a walk-in centre next to the accident and emergency department, an extension to the Sussex cancer centre to provide more treatment plus plans to install extra cots at the Trevor Mann baby unit.

What Mr Soden wants is to have the whole hospital up to the same standard as the renal unit but that is going to take some time and a lot of money.

While the building work continues a new fire alarm system has been put in and wards are being changed around to provide more room for beds because of the changes to where and when people are treated across the trust.

There are also plans to install a new larger switchboard for when the new children's hospital opens and a larger control centre for security staff.

Mr Soden said: "It is a pity that we have to think about things like the security staff control room but that is the way things are going.

"These are the things that are happening which are behind the scenes but are still important to the running of the trust's hospitals."

Mr Soden accepted that patients and visitors to the hospital were having to put up with a lot of disruption.

He said: "I don't apologise for doing the work itself because we need to do it and it will bring a tremendous boost when it is all done.

"However, I do apologise for the disruption people are facing in the meantime."