For the first time we have been given a look at the proposed plans for the new hospital, with the NSW Government releasing a number of new artists impressions.

The redevelopment will provide new facilities including cardiology, mental health and aged care wards, more operating theatres and a new emergency department, and there will also be greater access to more specialised staff, equipment and technology.

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A pop-up information event at Shoalhaven Hospital on Wednesday afternoon for local residents who live around the precinct has even revealed which services will be housed on which floor of the new development.

The new seven-storey hospital will be built next to the existing hospital, placed on the eastern side of the precinct, on Nowra Park (the Recreation Ground) fronting Shoalhaven Street.

Plans show it will protrude further south of the current site on which Shoalhaven Preschool is located.

The preschool will be relocated to the south western corner of the precinct, fronting North Street adjacent to the Shoalhaven Cancer Care Centre.

Work is expected to start on the new preschool later in the year.

The new hospital building has been designed in a way that will step up towards the northern side of the site, ensuring a lower scale of building adjacent to the park.

The main entrance of the new hospital building will be to the west, facing the Shoalhaven River.

The new building will be connected to the current hospital and multi-storey car park by undercover walkways.

A road, entering the complex via North Street (adjacent to the new preschool) will travel across Nowra Park to a designated drop off and pick up point at the front entrance of the new building.

There will be a special separate entrance for ambulances to go straight into the ground floor emergency department off Shoalhaven Street.

The ground floor will be home to the emergency department, doubling the size of the current facility, and medical imaging services. A cafe area will also be part of this level.

The first floor will house the operating theatres, which will be double the amount of the current hospital. Ambulatory care (medical care provided on an outpatient basis, including diagnosis, observation, consultation, treatment, intervention, and rehabilitation services) will also be located on this floor.

The Intensive Care Unit and cardiac services will be located on the second floor.

The third floor will provide a new acute mental health unit, replacing the small sub acute mental health unit which currently operates on the site, meaning local patients will no longer have to be transferred to Shellharbour for acute mental health treatment.

This floor will also be home to the new geatric wing.

The surgical ward will take up the fourth floor, while the fifth level will be home to the medical ward.

The all important plant area, the heart of the hospital, that keep all the hospital's facilities operating is on the sixth floor, while the seventh level will be home to the helipad.

The expansion will see almost a double of beds at the hospital from 200 plus to 400.

A State Significant Development Application submission is expected to be lodged by mid-year with tenders for the project expected to be called in late 2022.

The NSW Government says throughout the process there will be other opportunities for community and stakeholder engagement, including specific sessions for the indigenous community.

Construction is scheduled to start in early 2023, and be completed by 2026.

While construction is underway, the current hospital will continue to function as normal.

And once construction is completed the various services will be relocated in stages to the new building.

It is also planned for the current hospital to undergo a major refurbishment, which will also see a number rehabilitation services, outpatient clinics and other allied health facilities which are currently spread, in some cases throughout Nowra, brought together into the one location.

The children's ward and maternity section will remain in their present locations in the current building.

And yes the iconic, 400-year-old majestic Blackbutt tree (Eucalyptus pilularis) at the southeastern corner of the precinct remains and is in fact going to be a focal point of the landscaping design in that area.