Alder Hey starts race for £20m Community Cluster development

Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust has started the search for a designer and contractor as part of its plan to relocate eight departments into a new £20m development.

The trust requires a new office to house eight departments, including both clinical and non-clinical services, which are currently located across a number of buildings in the trust’s estate and across Liverpool.

Alder Hey plans to build a new “Community Cluster” at its Alder Hey Health Park campus to house two inpatient wards, three outpatient units, a school, and administrative support services.

The Trust added that there were multiple options for the site, which currently houses a number of vacant estate buildings. These buildings are currently being demolished to make way for the scheme.

Future plans for the Alder Hey Health Park campus

The initial phase of the project has a total construction and design budget of £9m, and while the maximum potential contract value is £20m for all three phases, the trust said funding “is not guaranteed” at present for future phases.

Five services – including three outpatients departments, an estates office, and a police administration office – would need to be accommodated in the first phase of the project, which will cover 26,000 sq ft.

The remaining three services would be accommodated by future phases of the development.

Tenders will be submitted in January 2018, and a winner for the project is due to be announced in April.

Laing O’Rourke completed the new £237m Alder Hey Hospital in 2015.