Wolverhampton’s landmark Royal Hospital building may have to be partly demolished despite a painstaking £1.6 million project to restore it to its former glory, it was revealed today.

Workers spent more than six months restoring the main former hospital building in All Saints as part of a wider £50m transformation project.

The main building has been earmarked to become a new headquarters for Wolverhampton Primary Care Trust as well as three GP surgeries.

Owner Tesco, which is behind the project, spent months painstakingly restoring it and preserving a host of historic features from the 19th century including stone plaques in the hospital’s operating theatres.

A temporary roof was installed at the Grade II-listed main hospital building in September last year.

But today the retailer revealed discussions were taking place about the future of the main building due to crumbling brickwork.

Although the facade of the old hospital will remain, other sections could be demolished. Tesco spokesman Tony Fletcher said today: “There have been a number of meetings about this.

“After all of the restoration and removing problems with damp and dry rot it was found that the bricks at the back of the building are not good quality as those at the front.

“They crumble when we try to remove them and we are trying to find if any are salvageable. Some of the building might not be economically viable to keep.

“We are also waiting for the PCT’s guidance because it is not able to get funding to move into an old building, and so we don’t want to build it all back up and then nobody can use it.

“We have invested a lot of money into the site, around £1.6m so far, and so we are committed to continuing with the development.”

Work to transform the prime site off Bilston Road ended a decade of uncertainty for the derelict buildings which have been left to rot since the hospital closed its doors in 1997.