Royal Liverpool Hospital set for Government bailout
Government ministers are likely to step in to bail out the troubled £335m Royal Liverpool Hospital, which saw construction stall after collapse of contractor Carillion earlier this year.
According to Sky News reports, the Government is set to terminate the hospital’s PFI deal and take it into full public ownership to allow construction to re-start after around nine months of inactivity on site.
Funded by L&G and the European Investment Bank, the troubled hospital has seen major delays, even before Carillion’s demise; its original completion date was March 2017, but this was first pushed back to February 2018, and delayed further when Carillion reported cracks in concrete beams and asbestos in the ground.
Consultant Arup has been undertaking a review of the development but this has unearthed a series of issues, including the cladding, along with structural problems. Laing O’Rourke had been in talks to take over the project, but according to Sky News, the project is likely to be re-tendered if the Government steps in to take over.
A spokesperson from the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust said: “Our board is meeting today and they will be discussing the options available, including the option to terminate the project agreement.
“Our aim is to have construction restarted as soon as possible, subject to the necessary legal arrangements being agreed with all parties.”
Criminal negligence or gross incompetence?
I’m no Cobynite but even I can see why the Carillion bosses need to be made examples of, too many innocents have been hurt by their recklessness and now the taxpayer are left picking up the pieces.
By Du Be Ous