Carillion/Drake & Scull win £22m hospital deal

A Carillion/Drake and Scull joint venture has won the £22 million contract to construct a new extension for the Royal Berkshire and Battle Hospital NHS Trust at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. The construction work is worth around £12 million and the mechanical and electrical work around £8 million.

The joint venture fought off bids by four rival teams: Costain/Haden Young; Shepherd/Matthew Hall; Laing/Crown House; and HBG/Lorne Stewart. The scheme involves the construction of an accident and emergency department, radiology department, operating theatres, wards, offices and a day-care centre. The extension will total around 16,000m2 of new space.

The extension was designed by Nightingale Associates. Project manager is Mouchel Consulting, QS is Davis Langdon and Everest, structural engineer is Gifford and Partners and mechanical and electrical services engineer is Kennedy and Donkin Consultancy.

Carillion is already on site at the hospital where it has a management deal to undertake a smaller contract .

The hospital is being developed in five phases. The new Carillion/Drake and Scull contract is part of the second phase.

The work was originally to have been done under a £75 million PFI deal. However, the scheme was cancelled in April 1998.