Michael McGimpsey, Northern Ireland's Health Minister, announced yesterday that Northern Ireland Health Group, in which FCC Construcción is the largest shareholder (39%), has been declared Preferred Bidder by Western Health and Social Care Trust to design, build, finance and operate the new hospital in Enniskillen, in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. FCC's partners in the consortium are Interserve, AIB and P. Elliott.
The announcement comes following a 2-year Competitive Dialogue Procedure (CDP) involving the winning consortium and two other groups, headed by Skanska (Sweden) and Balfour Beatty (UK). Following this announcement, the only remaining step is to close financing for the project and sign the contract; this is expected to take place in the first half of 2009.
The New Acute Hospital for the South West, which represents an investment of 267 million pounds sterling (about 335 million euro) and will be built within three years, will have 315 beds in individual rooms in a building of over 60,000 square metres; there will also be an employee accommodation block and an energy management centre, making it one of Europe's most modern buildings in terms of energy efficiency, since will use one-third less energy than similar facilities.
The project meets the client's high quality specifications, addressing patient, visitor and worker comfort, ease of use, visual impact, landscape integration, energy efficiency and integration with the socio-economic fabric of the region. The hospital is laid out in three bands or lines of blocks, separated by linear gardens or patios, allowing for optimum use of natural lighting and ventilation as well as providing a constant view of the surroundings.
The contract includes designing and building the new hospital as well as providing certain non-medical support services, energy control, and maintenance and life-cycle management.
This is the first hospital in Northern Ireland to be awarded under the PFI system and it is part of a plan to improve hospital infrastructure, which includes the future Omagh hospital, for which the consortium headed by FCC Construcción is also readying a bid.
