The Department of Health is concerned about rising budget says the Evening Standard.
The future of the PFI hospital at Paddington is hanging in the balance according to a report in today’s Evening Standard. A source said that ministers were unhappy with a trebling of cost estimates of the Paddington Health Campus. Sources told the newspaper that the business plan had already been informally rejected.
One source close to the PFI team told Building that the team was increasingly pessimistic about receiving government backing. The source said: "A couple of weeks ago the team was 60% confident. Now it's about 40%."
The source added that the PHC group had added architect Sheppard Robson to its team in the last month.
The £1.1bn campus would have combined an Imperial College Institute with new buildings for St Mary’s, Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals. These were originally expected to be completed by 2012 at a cost of £300m.
The Evening Standard said that the Department of Health was unhappy about a £148m deal to acquire land from the Paddington Development Corporation revealed by Building on 14 January. The Standard said that the DoH was concerned about the high price and the risks involved in the land deal.
The PDC is a special purpose vehicle whose shareholders include Multiplex and Reuben Brothers.
