Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France – In a monumental leap forward for regional healthcare, Lyon Sud Hospital-HCL has announced the completion of the third and most substantial phase of its ambitious BAURéaLS project (Blocs Accueil Urgences Réanimation Lyon Sud). This €175 million investment, initiated in 2017, culminates in the inauguration of an ultra-modern facility designed to revolutionize patient care and operational efficiency.
A New Era of Healthcare Technology and Infrastructure
As of January 2026, the new building will welcome patients requiring surgery, interventional radiology, endoscopy, and critical care. Among its cutting-edge features is a latest-generation spectral scanner and the ‘Géolab,’ a robotic logistics platform, unique in France, centralizing all logistical flows for surgical activities. This innovative approach aims to enhance safety, precision, and efficiency in patient treatment.
Raymond LE MOIGN, General Director of Hospices Civils de Lyon, emphasized the project’s profound impact: “A powerful master plan is the ability to deeply rethink the functionality of a University Hospital, revealing a more legible, fluid, and safer architecture of care. Applied to Lyon Sud hospitals, it has allowed us to organize medical and surgical offerings around coherent pathways, centered on the patient and collective efficiency. Above all, it has transformed fragmented buildings into a truly integrated, high-performing, and sustainable hospital system, embodied by the BAURéaLS project.”
Key Features of the New Facilities:
- 16 new-generation operating rooms: Dedicated to orthopedic, digestive, ophthalmic, ENT, maxillofacial, and emergency surgery, as well as interventional radiology.
- 24 recovery stations: Designed for optimal post-operative care.
- 20-place ambulatory surgery unit: Accommodating same-day surgery and patient reception.
- Critical care unit: Featuring 30 intensive care beds.
- Géolab: A state-of-the-art robotic logistics platform ensuring seamless supply chain management for surgical procedures.
The project’s phased opening schedule for January and February 2026 includes:
- January 7: Opening of the critical care unit with 30 intensive care beds.
- January 15: Opening of the ambulatory surgery unit and associated day-of-surgery reception; first patient operated in new operating blocks; first endoscopy patient; Géolab activity commences.
- January 22: Opening of digestive surgery blocks.
- January 29: Opening of emergency, orthopedic, and maxillofacial surgery blocks, along with two interventional radiology blocks.
- February 2: Full operational capacity for all blocks and critical care activities.
Patient-Centric Design and Sustainable Development
The BAURéaLS project stands out for its unprecedented participatory design process. Since 2017, a working group comprising over 180 professionals from various disciplines and a hundred patients collaborated to conceptualize the optimal organization, focusing on patient needs and staff well-being. This “design thinking” methodology, a first for a project of this scale in France, ensured that the facilities were tailored to their future occupants. [tribunedelyon.fr](https://tribunedelyon.fr/sciences-innovation/chariots-robotises-et-radiologie-de-pointe-lhopital-lyon-sud-inaugure-un-batiment-ultramoderne/) [leprogres.fr](https://www.leprogres.fr/sante/2025/12/17/hopital-lyon-sud-dans-les-coulisses-du-nouveau-batiment-de-chirurgie)
A strong commitment to sustainable development guided the project, prioritizing the rehabilitation of existing spaces (16,800 m² across buildings 3A and 3B) and limiting new construction (12,500 m²). Energy efficiency was a key criterion in equipment selection, and construction companies adhered to a “low-nuisance construction site” charter. [lyoncapitale.fr](https://www.lyoncapitale.fr/actualite/hopital-lyon-sud-les-hcl-inaugurent-un-nouveau-batiment-innovant-les-premiers-patients-accueillis-en-janvier)
The architectural design, led by Michel REMON & Associés in collaboration with VK Architects, emphasizes natural light, clean aesthetics, and a clear, fluid patient journey. The new building integrates seamlessly with the existing structure, creating a modern and efficient environment. [leprogres.fr](https://www.leprogres.fr/sante/2025/12/18/extension-scanner-derniere-generation-et-experimentation-unique-en-france-l-hopital-lyon-sud-fait-peau-neuve)
The Géolab: A Robotic Revolution in Hospital Logistics
At the heart of BAURéaLS lies the Géolab, a 2000 m² robotic logistics platform located on an intermediate floor. This groundbreaking system, the first of its kind in a French hospital of this magnitude, automates the preparation and delivery of all surgical materials, medications, and medical devices. It features 16 autonomous robots that manage over 2500 references across 134 mobile shelves, delivering them to operators who assemble surgical carts (géodes). A fleet of autonomous mobile robots then transports these géodes to the operating rooms, ensuring continuous and secure flow, separate from patient traffic. [latribune.fr](https://www.latribune.fr/article/regions/auvergne-rhone-alpes/58815413966469/robotisation-materiel-dernier-cri-un-plan-a-175-millions-pour-repenser-lhopital-lyon-sud)
This automation significantly improves the quality and safety of care, reduces storage space, enhances logistical traceability and responsiveness, and decreases physical strain on staff, allowing them to focus on core medical tasks. The Géolab, funded with €3 million by HCL, is meticulously controlled at every stage, with human oversight and a comprehensive information system integrating HCL’s software.
Advanced Medical Technologies and Future Expansion
Beyond the Géolab, Lyon Sud Hospital is making strides in interventional radiology. One of its two new interventional radiology rooms will be equipped with the Angio-CT Spectral technology, making HCL the first university hospital in France and the fifth worldwide to acquire it. This technology combines a latest-generation spectral scanner with an interventional arch, enabling complex procedures without patient transfer, improving diagnostic and therapeutic precision with very low-dose spectral imaging. This offers significant benefits for patients, including more precise tumor targeting, less invasive procedures, reduced iodine doses, and expanded therapeutic options.
The BAURéaLS project also includes conventional programmed surgery, with five specialties benefiting from robotic assistance through two robots for digestive, endocrine, gynecological, urological surgery, and one for orthopedic surgery.
Previous Milestones and Future Outlook
Prior to this major completion, the BAURéaLS project saw the opening of a new emergency department (SAU) on March 28, 2024. Designed to accommodate 40,000 patients annually (with potential for 50,000), the SAU is strategically located near the “Hôpital Lyon Sud-Saint Genis Laval” metro station. In May 2025, the Pharmacy for Internal Use (PUI) was relocated and consolidated into a 1400 m² space, creating a new Centralized Pharmacy Unit (UCPharma) that streamlines medication and medical device management.
The BAURéaLS project is set to be fully completed by 2027, with two final stages:
- End of 2026: Opening of a five-station medical-surgical resuscitation service and a new living space for patient families.
- During 2027: Opening of the second level of operating rooms, adding 14 new rooms for a total of 30, making it one of the largest technical platforms in France for these specialties. A second ambulatory surgery and day-of-surgery reception unit will also open, accommodating an additional 20 patients.
Upon its definitive completion, the BAURéaLS project will have entirely revamped Lyon Sud Hospital’s operational and critical care technical platform, significantly modernized its emergency department, automated its operational logistics chain, and integrated some of the most advanced equipment globally. This ambitious undertaking reinforces Hospices Civils de Lyon’s commitment to shaping the future of university hospitals: safer, more fluid, more innovative, and more humane.
