Support services group teams up with John Laing to start building Pembury Hospital in April

Interserve, in a consortium with John Laing and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, has won the contract for the 拢225m Pembury Hospital scheme in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

The 512-bed Pembury Hospital will be the first NHS acute facility with 100% single, ensuite rooms.

Interserve plans to invest 拢5.2m in the project and will deliver facilities management services worth 拢75m in the new buildings over 30 years. This will include mechanical and electrical maintenance, estates management, grounds maintenance, utilities management and the provision and operation of a helpdesk.

The hospital, which will be seven storeys high with a floor area of 65,000m2, includes planned and emergency surgery, orthopaedics, a women's and children's zone, day-case theatres, outpatient services and a mental health unit.

Adrian Ringrose, chief executive of Interserve, said: "The facilities our consortium will create in Pembury Hospital go further than anything seen in the NHS before. Patients will benefit not only from having 100% single rooms but also from the views of the surrounding woodland which have been captured in the hospital's design. This win represents the fifth in our healthcare PFI portfolio in which our total investment commitment is now 拢25.5 million."

Construction of the hospital will begin in April.