Willmott lands Procure 21+ job

Willmott Dixon has won its first scheme on the £4.5bn Procure 21+ health framework, leaving Miller as the only firm on the list that has yet to win a job.

The company secured a £4.8m contract to expand and refurbish orthopaedic facilities at Warrington hospital in Cheshire for Warrington & Halton hospitals foundation trust.

The Procure 21+ framework has so far been dominated by established companies such as Balfour Beatty, Interserve, Kier and Integrated Health Projects (IHP), a consortium of Vinci and Sir Robert McAlpine.

Mike Gallagher, general manager for Healthcare Partnership Solutions, the consortium led by Miller, confirmed that the company had not won any work on the framework so far, but said he was “very optimistic” about the future.

“We expect to win something within the next few months,” he said.

It is understood that by mid-April about 18 projects had been awarded, with a total value of £300m. The framework began at the beginning of October 2010.

Procure 21+ is worth £4.5bn over six years so should, on average, produce £750m of work each year.

With only £300m of work awarded in the first six months, funding for health capital projects appears to be running slower than expected.

The Department of Health said £600m of work had been registered - as distinct from being won - through Procure 21+ so far.

By mid-April, Balfour Beatty had bagged eight contracts worth £125m in total, while IHP won three projects, totalling £131m.