Tenders issued for major hospital development scheme

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has issued tender notices seeking architects and design teams to work on a development of two new hospitals at Leeds General Infirmary.

The trust has the funding and planning approvals in place to design and build a state-of-the-art hospital for adult healthcare and a purpose-built new home for Leeds Children’s Hospital.

The five-year, one million sq ft project is called Hospitals of the Future. It is one of six schemes to receive funding in the first wave of the UK Government’s Health Infrastructure Plan (HIP) – a national programme of healthcare capital investment – and the first to come to market.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust says it aims to set the standard for healthcare design in the UK.

Its ambitions include making the new hospitals the most digitally advanced and smart in the UK.

The trust wants the buildings to lead on sustainability and carbon reduction, while promoting best practice through Designing for Manufacture and Assembly and Modern Methods of Construction.

And the trust aims to become the first UK acute trust in the HIP Programme to be accredited to the WELL Building Standard.

Once the Hospitals of the Future scheme is completed, the trust has the potential to release five hectares of wider estate for development to support the vision for an Innovation District in Leeds.

A strategic partnership between the trust, the Leeds Universities and Leeds City Council this will create a world-class hub focussed on healthcare talent, industry partnerships, research and training.

It will have the potential to deliver £3.3bn Gross Value Added benefits and an additional 3,500 jobs for Leeds and the wider region.

Julian Hartley, chief executive, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “This will be a flagship hospital project, not just for Leeds but also for the UK.

“We need architectural partners that can rise to the challenge of this exciting, complex design brief and work with us to deliver world-class hospitals that will transform the future of healthcare for patients from Leeds, the wider region and beyond for years to come.”

Chairman of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Dame Linda Pollard, said: “Hospitals of the Future is an exceptional project.

“It will not only deliver state of the art hospital facilities for our patients and staff but has the potential to make a significant impact on the future economic growth and development of Leeds city and the region.

“This new build, and the five hectares of wider estate released for development will make a major contribution to the vision for an Innovation District in Leeds.”