Three shortlisted for £250m Manchester children's hospital, one of the biggest projects in the third PFI group.
Contractors are vying for a trio of high-profile hospital projects that form part of the third tranche of PFI schemes.

Consortia have been shortlisted for a £250m children's hospital in Manchester, a £70m hospital in Blackburn and the £180m Derbyshire Royal Infirmary.

Three consortia have been shortlisted for the Manchester scheme. They are: Aqumen/Mowlem, Taylor Woodrow/Granada, and the Catalyst consortium – which includes Bovis Lend Lease and facilities management company Sodexho.

Joint clients for the scheme are Manchester Children's Hospitals NHS Trust and Central Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust. They are expected to select a preferred bidder in October.

The project is scheduled to reach financial close next July and will open in 2006. It involves the construction of a children's hospital and the extension and refurbishment of facilities for adults.

The winning consortium will also provide facilities management services to the hospital for 30 years.

The Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Healthcare NHS Trust has shortlisted Kier, Bovis Lend Lease and Balfour Beatty for its £70m new-build hospital.

A shortlist of two was to have been announced last month but the client has since asked bidders to think of ways to reduce the cost. The two successful bidders are to be named this month.

The project involves the merger of two hospitals on a site at Queen's Park Hospital in Blackburn, Lancashire. The other hospital being replaced is the 133-year-old Blackburn Royal Infirmary.

The new hospital will have 244 beds, a children's unit, 10 in-patient and day-case theatres and an accident and emergency department.

In Derbyshire, three contractors are battling for the deal to refurbish 7000 m2 of the royal infirmary and build additional facilities. The firms are: Alfred McAlpine/Kier, Carillion and Skanska.

The client, South Derbyshire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, is due to appoint a preferred bidder in October.

The project should reach financial close next May and be completed by 2007.

  • A PFI consortium led by Bouygues has reached financial close on the £50m redevelopment of West Middlesex University Hospital in London. The consortium also includes Abbey National and Charterhouse.