Laing wins £761m Leicester hospitals PFI deal

John Laing's Equion division, in joint venture with Serco, has been appointed preferred bidder by the Leicester University Hospital NHS Trust for a major programme to develop three hospitals in Leicester, with a capital cost of £761m.

CJ tipped Equion/Serco as the winner in January. The jv will be responsible for designing, constructing, maintaining and supporting the three hospitals. Serco will provide Facilities Management services and Laing O'Rourke will be responsible for all design and construction.

The 35-year project will deliver much needed state of the art facilities to support 21st century health services for Leicester. The first buildings are expected to be complete in 2009 with the overall project finishing in 2011.

The jv beat Bovis Lend Lease's Catalyst team.

When the scheme was first advertised at the end of 2002, its price tag was about £400m. But values rocketed to about £700m when adjusted to take into account a construction timetable that could last until 2012.