A five-year project to redevelop five Manchester hospitals has been approved after the £380m required for the scheme was secured.

The project, to be built by Bovis Lend Lease as part of the Catalyst Healthcare PFI consortium, is one of Britain’s largest PFI healthcare schemes. The hospitals will provide 1460 beds when they open in 2009.

The scheme, for the Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s University Hospitals NHS Trust, will include units for adults, women, children, eye care and mental health. Each will be housed in a separate hospital but all will be built on a single site.

Michael Fry, Catalyst’s general manager for the project, said: “Projects of this scope and scale don’t happen too frequently so it takes a lot of work to bring them to this stage. We have consulted more than 200 hospital staff to ensure our designs meet their needs for many years ahead.”

Catalyst has opened three PFI hospitals in the UK. The consortium has another five under construction in addition to those planned for Manchester.