The team behind the new £430-million hospital at Southmead is preparing to make the first changes on the site.

An application has gone into the city council to put up a temporary building to house the hospital kitchens, paving the way for demolition and building work to begin.

Members of the public and hospital staff were able to take a closer look at plans for the super-hospital, which will replace the existing Southmead and Frenchay acute hospitals, at a drop-in session in Southmead yesterday.

There was the chance for people to quiz members of the project team about the design and facilities that will be included in the new buildings.

The new hospital will be built as a private finance initiative (PFI) project by consortium Carillion, who are working with Bristol-based designers and are also looking to hire local contractors to help with the construction.

Models and artists' impressions were on display at the BAWA club in Southmead Road for people to get a better understanding of what the new hospital would look like.

Applications for the temporary building have been joined by a submission to carry out other works on the site that will make way for the full building project to begin.

The block will be located in a car park currently used by night staff, but measures have been included to minimise disruption for residents living in houses nearby, including wood cladding of the walls to make it look more appealing.

A further planning application is due to be submitted to the city council next month to provide more detail to update the basic plans that were approved in September 2007.

The aim is for the first works to start on the site in November, with the new hospital due to open to its first patients in 2014.

It is being designed as the most energy-efficient hospital ever built, and as many of the materials used as possible will be recycled.

Carillion will bring its experience from 17 other hospital projects to the Southmead project.

Project director for Carillion Tony Harden said: "It is exciting to be delivering a world-leading hospital in my home town of Bristol."

Jasek Szymanski is a former nurse who is now a full-time member of the new hospital project.

He said: "It was difficult for people to visualise the hospital from plans, but now they can see what we are doing from the drawings.

"We are now starting to think about how we are going to work differently in the future in preparation for the new building."

Bridie Kane, 65, of Filton Avenue, has been involved with the public sessions looking at the design of the hospital.

She said: "It is good that so many members of the general public are involved and it is what the public wants. None of us have the television sets we had in the Fifties and Sixties and we want a hospital for this century too – not from the last.

"(The current) Southmead is a super hospital, but it was not designed for medical care in the year 2010 and beyond."

Barry Poole, 77, of Long Acres, Coombe Dingle, was involved in the public involvement group that worked on the project.

He was concerned that some of the buildings would work better if they were facing towards the sun rather than away from it.

A second open day will be held on Monday at the board room in North Bristol NHS Trust headquarters at Frenchay Hospital from 2.30pm to 7.30pm.

For more information telephone 959 5030 or email projectoffice@nbt.nhs.uk.