Queen Elizabeth II of England has officially inaugurated the New South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen (around 40 kilometres outside Belfast), which was built by FCC. The project cost around 340 million euro (276 million pounds) and was completed in three years.

This is also the first hospital to be awarded as a public-private partnership in Northern Ireland and is part of the extensive investment programme aimed at improving infrastructure in the UK. It is also the first new hospital to be built in Northern Ireland in over a decade.

The inauguration coincided with the official two-day visit to Northern Ireland by Queen Elizabeth II as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in the UK; she was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh. Health Minister Edwin Poots welcomed the royal couple and informed them about the hospital.

The facility, which has 315 individual rooms and spans 65,000 square metres, offers the most modern clinical practices and the latest technologies in patient care. The New South West Acute Hospital will also offer a wide range of specialties, with a focus on maternity and emergency services, and will complement those offered by Erne Hospital, also in Enniskillen.

The project commenced in May 2009, when the Western Health and Social Care Trust signed a concession contract with the Northern Ireland Health Group consortium, in which FCC Construction is the largest shareholder (39%), for the design, construction, financing and operation of the new hospital in Enniskillen. The consortium also comprised local companies Allied Irish Bank Plc and Interserve Investments. It will have a facility to house employees and an energy demand management centre, making it one of the most modern hospitals in Europe in terms of energy efficiency.

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 facility also has special separate areas designated for personnel and patients.

Extensive experience in hospital construction

FCC, the Citizen Services group, is responsible for the construction of many health facilities around the world. The group is currently building a hospital complex in Panama. The contract, worth 440 million euro, was adjudicated by the Caja de Seguro Social de la República de Panamá at the end of 2011. The 1,700-bed hospital, the largest in Central America, spans 183,912 square metres. FCC also obtained a contract from the Panama Health Ministry to build the Luis Chicho Fábrega Hospital in Veraguas province, for which construction is under way.

FCC has a 175 million euro contract for the construction and refurbishment of the Weinviertel Clinic (Austria), and it is building a hospital in Abu Dhabi for the UAE health authority. In Spain, the company is currently building the hospital in La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz).