Stricken hospital construction project hit by more defects

Plans for The Royal Liverpool Hospital

More defects have been found at the Royal Liverpool Hospital project which came to a standstill last year following the collapse of construction giant Carillion with debts of £1.5bn.

Work stalled on the £335m project while the NHS trust responsible for the hospital sought to appoint a new contractor. Laing O’Rourke was chosen in October.

The latest faults were uncovered as the trust prepares its final financial proposals to the Government for approval to complete the scheme.

Industry publication, building.co.uk, said The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS trust has confirmed the scope of works required to get the hospital up and running has increased again.

Papers published ahead of yesterday’s meeting of the trust’s board raised both latent defects and an increase in the scope of works as red-rated risks.

It said: “Various survey reports have identified further defects that need to be factored into the costs to complete.”

The trust said it was now working closely with Laing O’Rourke and project manager Gleeds ahead of publishing its business case next month.

Trust interim chief executive, Peter Williams, said: “A detailed programme of work to fix the structural issues in the New Royal has been finalised. These works are complex due to the advanced nature of the building and will take time to complete.

“They involve strengthening existing beams and reducing the loads that are causing structural issues. These works will ensure the building is finished to the standards required so we can deliver the world class hospital we’ve all been waiting for.”

He also said that £3m had been spent on essential maintenance costs on the half-built hospital in the six months from July to December last year.

He added: “This included flushing the water system to provide power and heating in order to ensure future safety and maintenance of systems, fixtures and finishes.

“While these costs are significant, the cost of replacing degraded systems could be far higher and funding is in place for this ongoing essential maintenance.”

Problems with work at the site that has already been built were first revealed shortly after Carillion collapsed, when the contractor’s former chief executive Richard Howson revealed there were cracks in a number of structural beams.

Since then an Arup survey said the cladding that had been fitted was non-compliant while the ventilation system in the anaesthetic rooms in theatres needed to be fixed.

While not revealing details of the latest defects, the trust said they would be factored into the final business case which will be finished next month.

Mr Williams said: “Once we have the final programme from Laing O’Rourke we can finalise our business case.

“This is to be considered at Trust Board [meeting next month] before going to NHS Improvement/England and the [Department for Health] for final approval.”

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