Turner & Townsend is leading the delivery of ambitious plans for Sunderland’s new Eye Hospital, submitted recently by Sunderland City Council.
The global professional services company was appointed to develop an outline business case for the renewal of the hospital’s existing facilities, and is providing project and cost management, and principal designer services.
The existing Sunderland Eye Infirmary building was built in 1937, and the plans will ensure that the regionally and nationally respected facility can continue to provide leading ophthalmic services for the future. The multidisciplinary appointment, under the NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) framework, covers a comprehensive scope across the anticipated lifecycle of the programme, including the development of business cases, design, tendering, and contract, construction and equipment, technical commissioning handover, post-completion, operational commissioning, and project evaluation.
Darren Laybourn, Strategic lead for the North East, director and Global Head of Healthcare, said: “A renewal of facilities at the Eye Hospital is an exceptionally important investment for the City of Sunderland, and we are delighted to be bringing our full experience to bear on this project. The Eye Infirmary has a long and celebrated history in Sunderland, and we’re glad to be working with the City Council and South Tyneside & Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust to secure that legacy for the years to come.”
The hospital is the latest development planned for Riverside Sunderland, which has been backed by Legal & General, and will create ‘a dynamic mixed-use urban quarter in the heart of the city centre’.
Turner & Townsend’s work on the project builds on the business’ extensive healthcare expertise within the North East which includes overseeing delivery of the new Emergency Care Centre in Gateshead, Houghton le Spring Community Care Centre in Sunderland, and Hopewood Park for Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, among other projects.
