The Department of Health (DoH) is in talks with a John Laing-led consortium over refunding its original bid costs on the revised Leicester hospitals PFI scheme.

This would be the first time that the government refunds costs on a scheme that has not been cancelled. The £711m Leicester University Hospitals project, on which John Laing is preferred bidder, was rescoped earlier this year and is six months behind schedule.

John Laing confirmed to Building that it is in talks with the DoH. A source close to the firm said they were discussing “recovery of the aborted costs associated with the original scheme”.