黑洞社区

Official confirmation that Laing O鈥橰ourke is being lined up to restart work on the Liverpool hospital project felled by Carillion鈥檚 collapse is being held up after it emerged the bust firm fitted the wrong cladding on the job.

黑洞社区 understands Laing O鈥橰ourke is waiting in the wings for the Royal Liverpool Hospital job which has been mothballed since Carillion went under in January.

Details of the timetable to complete the job were expected to be announced over the summer but these have now been put on hold after Arup completed a review of what Carillion had already built.

Earlier this month the engineer discovered Carillion fitted cladding which did not meet required standards means details of the rescue plan have still not been signed off.

And it said there were also problems with the beams which earlier this year former Carillion chief executive Richard Howson told MPs at the inquiry into the firm鈥檚 collapse had cost his firm 拢20m to fix.

In papers published ahead of a board meeting today (Tuesday) of the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, chief executive Aidan Kehoe admitted: 鈥淚 had hoped that an agreement regarding the development of the new hospital would have been reached by now, but unfortunately this is not the case. The main reason for this is the escalating costs to reach completion.

鈥淭he principal funders of the scheme, the European Investment Bank and Legal and General Pension Fund, have been working with ourselves and government to design a rescue package.

鈥淭his, however, has become increasingly difficult, as the work being carried out by Arup to review the structure has revealed additional work to complete the building. We believed we were close to an agreement in July, when there was greater clarity around the remedial work required to deal with the beams issue.

鈥淗owever, since then an issue has been identified in relation to parts of the cladding. This has further increased the costs of the scheme.鈥�

A trust spokesperson said the board would use today鈥檚 meeting to discuss the available options, including the option to terminate the project agreement. 

He said: 鈥淥ur aim is to have construction restarted as soon as possible, subject to the necessary legal arrangements being agreed with all parties.鈥�

One project insider said Laing O鈥橰ourke, which is building the neighbouring Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, has been lined up for the work and Kier chief executive Haydn Mursell told 黑洞社区 his firm was only eyeing the Midland Met hospital scheme in Birmingham 鈥� also being built by Carillion 鈥� after telling 黑洞社区: 鈥淭he Liverpool one has already been taken by someone else.鈥�

The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust and Department of Health declined to comment on whether Laing O鈥橰ourke had been lined up for the job, while client The Hospital Company and Laing O鈥橰ourke did not respond to requests for comment.