Product category:
Building Trade Associations and Institutes
News Release from: Chartered Institute of Building [CIOB] | Subject: Paddington Health Campus
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 31 May 2006
'Super hospital' project was too sick to
start
UK's most ambitious hospital construction programme in history ground to a costly halt before builders could even get on site.
It was to be a shining star in the UK's most ambitious hospital construction programme in history, launched by a newly-elected government and fuelled by money from the private sector - but it ground to a costly halt before builders could even get on site The original plan for the £300m Paddington Health Campus was to merge three run-down facilities into one 'super hospital' in central London, set for completion in 2006
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 12 Mar 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
CIOB Commission Welcomes Graduate Recruit Upturn
Applications to join building courses up to mid-January had risen by 16 per cent. Civil engineering courses are up by 25 per cent and architecture by 15 per cent.
'Urban Renaissance' Held Back By Funding Obstacles
London Assembly has called upon the UK Government to show more determination in assisting public and private sector organisations to find new ways of funding large-scale regeneration projects.
That was in 2000.
But by the time authorities abandoned the plan in June last year, projected costs had risen to nearly £1 billion.
Now a new report by the UK government's National Audit Office (NAO) explains why the project failed so utterly.
Further reading
London's Olympic Demand For Construction Funding
The London Development Agency is responsible for preparing and implementing the Mayor's business plan and invests more than £300 million a year in supporting the growth of new and existing businesses.
Construction Industry Better Deal On Software
The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has announced that it will be offering its members access to a range of IT resources as part of a special CAD and IT service.
It should provide valuable lessons for the UK, but also for other countries such as Mexico embarking on their own ambitious hospital building plans using private finance.
"The original case was inadequate, the lack of a single sponsor was a fatal flaw and the final scheme was not deliverable," said NAO chief Sir John Bourn.
The NAO identified several key reasons for the failure: First, the number and scale of the risks, coupled with the lack of a single body to own and manage them.
Second, the two neighbouring health authorities that were partners in the project couldn't agree on clinical priorities or on whether the scheme was affordable.
Third, higher authorities failed to provide strategic support for the campus vision.
And finally, the project partners failed even to secure enough land for the project.
By the time the decision was taken to cancel the scheme in June 2005, projected costs had risen to £894 million and the expected completion date had slipped to 2013.
On top of that, the aborted scheme cost the UK taxpayer £15 million in "organisational expenditure".
Sir John urged the Department of Health to learn from these mistakes as it carries out a capital investment programme worth between £7 and £9 billion.
The report also warns that hospital building schemes cost on average more than double (117%) their original estimates, so authorities must be ready to reappraise their business cases when cost estimates go up by more than 10%.
As iCON reports in its Q2 edition, public private partnerships (PPP), pioneered in the UK, are being used more and more around the world to fund hospitals and other public amenities.
Brazil, Greece, China, Germany and Japan are listed among the keen beginners.
In 2005 Mexico launched a US$6 billion PPP programme to build hospitals in seven regions.
Let's hope these countries learn from the UK's errors as well as its successes.
For the full NAO report visit: www.nao.org.uk.
• Chartered Institute of Building [CIOB]: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Buildingtalk email newsletter
• Buildingtalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
