Contractor successful bidder for new Merseyside hospital deal

Laing O’Rourke has been confirmed as the successful bidder for Alder Hey hospital’s Children’s Health Park.

The contractor’s Acorn consortium – which also includes John Laing and Interserve and architect BDP - has been selected for the Merseyside hospital’s £288m project.

It had been vying with Balfour Beatty for the health park, originally scheduled to open in 2014.

A statement from Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust said it was “delighted” to confirm that it had approached the Department of Health and HM Treasury to request Acorn’s appointment for the redevelopment work.

It added: “Following approval from the Department of Health and Treasury, it is planned that the secretary of state will officially announce our appointment of Acorn on 1 March.”

Concerns over the project had flared in late 2010 with the resignation of consultant project director Richard Glenn, but at the time Foundation Trust chief executive Louise Shepherd insisted that “enormous momentum” remained behind the proposals and that the new hospital would proceed.

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