Carillion will start work on the £335 million Royal Liverpool University Hospital in the New Year after securing financial close for the project that will create 750 construction jobs.
Carillion was named preferred bidder in May by the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals Trust, and will invest £15.5 million of its own capital in the project which is to be completed by 2017. The contract also includes delivery of non clinical support services estimated at £100 million over the 20 year concession period.
The new hospital will be built adjacent to the existing hospital which will be demolished after transfer of services. It will be the biggest all single-bed hospital in the country with 646 beds. It will include a 40-bed critical care unit, 18 operating theatres and one of the largest emergency departments in the north west.
A BioCampus will be provided on the site of the demolished old hospital which is intended to play a key role in regenerating Liverpool’s ‘Knowledge Quarter’, creating potentially thousands of ‘high tech’ jobs, says the Trust.
Carillion has committed to a range of local employment initiatives as part of its deal, with some 60% of jobs expected to go to local people and 15% from priority areas in the city. Around 100 apprenticeships are also to be created.
The hospital is designed to be one of the greenest in the country, using renewable energy systems, low carbon technology, water meters and leak detection systems, with 60% of materials to be locally sourced.
Carillion says this is its 16th privately financed hospital project in the UK.
