21 Dec 2006

Interserve, in consortium with John Laing plc and Laing O'Rourke, has been ranked as the first choice for the £300 million Tunbridge Wells Hospital PFI project. The new 512-bed hospital and mental health unit will be the first acute hospital in the country with 100 per cent single rooms.

Interserve will invest in the region of £5.5 million of equity and subordinated debt in the project and will deliver FM services worth an estimated £66 million in the new buildings created over a period of 30 years. FM services will include mechanical and electrical maintenance, estates management, grounds maintenance, utilities management and the provision and operation of a helpdesk. The building design maximises the location within the local environment and the woodland management services to be provided by Interserve will be particularly important to the services delivered.

The new hospital, which is 65,000 sq metres and seven storeys in height, includes planned and emergency surgery, orthopaedics, a women and children's zone, day case theatres, outpatient services and a mental health unit. Works are currently being carried out to ensure the site is ready for construction to begin in Autumn 2007.

This is the second project won by the Interserve/John Laing plc/Laing O'Rourke consortium, which is already working on the PFI contract for the 926 bed Royal Victoria Infirmary and Freeman Hospital project awarded by the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust.

"We are proud to be associated with this prestigeous development which will provide vital health services to the people of Kent, Medway and East Sussex. This win builds on our existing work and strength in the health sector. We currently work with a number of hospital trusts in England including North Cumbria Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, University College of London Hospitals NHS Trust, Dudley Hospitals NHS Trust and Oxfordshire Mental Healthcare NHS Trust and with a number of ProCure21 projects across the UK," commented Adrian Ringrose, Interserve's Chief Executive.