Partner Article

Newcastle hospital in legal battle over construction project

International engineering firm Laing O’Rourke Construction is locked in a legal battle with Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation over the building of clinical office blocks at the Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Laing argues that the office blocks, known as the Clinical Resource Centre, were completed two years ago as part of the RVI project.

The resource centre is the last of an eight phase building programme carried out for PFI delivery consortium Healthcare Support in Newcastle, which was a joint venture between Equion and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Interserve.

The trust notes several issues with the offices including insufficient daylight, poor-sized toilet areas and potential overheating issues.

The issuing of a completion certificate has been delayed by the row over meeting specifications, meaning the offices have been left vacant for two years.

Laing O’Rourke has now won a High Court ruling that the state of the office blocks should be considered by the independent tester.

A Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson told Chronicle Live: “Regrettably, a building – the Clinical Resource Centre, and what is intended to accommodate 860 key professional staff and is a fundamental component the phased re-development of the Royal Victoria Infirmary – does not satisfy basic standards, hence handover in mid 2012 could not happen.

“This is a PFI, therefore, the risks rest with others and not the NHS Foundation Trust.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .