RECENT NEWS

A new two-ward building built by specialist offsite healthcare construction firm, Darwin, at Leighton Hospital in Crewe has been officially opened by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Lord Markham CBE.

Extending its ‘delivery of pan-public sector services’, multidisciplinary consultancy, Pick Everard, has been appointed to the NHS Shared Business Services new £1.6bn framework agreement.

The PSC (The Public Service Consultants) and the Plymouth Local Care Partnership have co- developed what they describe as an innovative ‘Blueprint’ approach to designing healthcare estates that ‘effectively meets population needs and enables seamless integration of care’.

NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS), has unveiled the ‘third generation’ of its Construction Consultancy framework agreement, ‘Healthcare Planning, Construction Consultancy & Ancillary Services (HPCCAS)’, with an offering that it says can speed up hospital builds.

‘Industry stalwart’, Andy Hawes, has joined Aermec as General manager, Technical Services, as part of the company’s further expansion and vision to make Aermec UK a Centre of Excellence within the HVAC industry.

The redevelopment of St Ann’s Hospital, a multi-purpose healthcare campus in Tottenham, included a new, purpose-built mental health inpatient building.

Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital (CCRH) has appointed Laing O’Rourke as its preferred construction partner to join the project for its next phase of design.

Kier has been appointed by the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust (UHB) to deliver a three-year programme of capital works, with the aim of achieving ‘a modern, contemporary, and clinically efficient, estate by 2026’.

Willmott Dixon Interiors has begun work on the first phase of a project to expand and refurbish A&E facilities at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

Architect, BDP’s plans for the latest phase of Bruntwood SciTech’s Manchester Science Park have been approved.

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust has been granted more than £13 m via Salix – which administers funds on behalf of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero – to make a wide range of improvements to the University Hospital of Hartlepool.

Thirteen new community diagnostic centres – including eight independently-run CDCs – are opening across the country to deliver more than 742,000 additional scans, tests, and checks, a year, the Department of Health & Social Care has announced.

Nine of the UK’s most prominent health and safety organisations have united to form the Occupational Safety and Health Stakeholder Alliance.

Northumberland-headquartered Merit, which claims to be ‘the UK’s leading industrialised construction and digital manufacturing specialist’, has been appointed by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust Foundation to design and deliver its new Elective Hub (Operating Theatre Block).

Construction by BAM of a new regional pathology laboratory at the Leeds General Infirmary has been completed, and – once operational – Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust says it will help ‘transform’ diagnostic services and testing right across West Yorkshire.

The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has called for a major injection of funding and planning into addressing the skills shortage which it claims is preventing the refurbishment and retrofitting of buildings in line with the Government's carbon reduction targets.

A clean air technology business has announced a major expansion in North America with a new facility to serve a growing client base in the pharmaceuticals sector.

A survey of 300 UK surgeons by global healthcare technology company, Medtronic, has found that each surgeon loses an average of four hours a week due to inefficient technology – equal to more than an entire working month each year.

Construction of the new main entrance at Queen Alexandra (QA) Hospital in Portsmouth – which will include changing facilities and a Marks & Spencer food store among new patient and staff amenities – is now underway.

Assura plc, reportedly the UK private sector’s largest primary care property investor and developer, has moved on site with the development of a £11 million Ambulance Hub in Bury St Edmunds.