Plans for Watford General rebuild get financial backing

The money will be used to deliver the next phase of preparing the site for the new building, and fund a Project team to drive forward the project. In January this year, the government announced its review into the New Hospital Programme (NHP), providing a new timetable for delivering the schemes countrywide. Ministers confirmed Watford … Read more

Sodexo selected as strategic supplier to the NHS under new national SSRM programme

The SSRM programme is a joint initiative between DHSC, the NHSE, and the Cabinet Office. The organisations involved say it represents ‘a shift in how the health system engages with its most critical suppliers – moving from traditional procurement approaches, to a structured, collaborative model that emphasises relationship-building, long-term value creation, and innovation’. Philip Leigh, … Read more

COVER STORY: New elective surgical hub at Colchester Hospital marks MMC milestone for MTX

The Essex and Suffolk Elective Orthopaedic Centre (ESEOC) is reportedly the UK’s largest MMC development of its kind, built in five phases using 293 offsite-manufactured structural steel units. Designed to handle up to 10,500 cases annually, including 4,000 day cases, it provides state-of-the-art surgical and recovery spaces, including ensuite single rooms, X-ray facilities, a therapy … Read more

Climate response ‘still largely on paper, rather than practice’, survey reveals

Conducted for Mace by Censuswide, the research of over 4,000 building portfolio and asset managers across the UK, USA, UAE, and Hong Kong, working across 14 sectors – including healthcare, architecture and engineering, residential real estate, retail and leisure, and infrastructure, was conducted by to gain a better understanding of how asset managers are meeting … Read more

Robotic and emergency maternity surgical theatre unveiled at North Tees facility

Constructed on the hospital’s first floor, it spans the space above the atrium near the main entrance, and is supported by permanent columns from the ground floor. One of the most ambitious estates projects in the hospital’s history, the new theatre complex includes a ‘cutting-edge’ robotic surgical and training space, and a dedicated emergency maternity … Read more

Door specialist highlights ‘critical new foreword’ impacting steel doorsets’ design and specification

A new UK National Foreword has been published alongside the revised version of the extended application (EXAP) standard, EN 15269-2, following concerns raised within the industry about potentially unsafe design practices previously permitted under the standard. Assa Abloy Door Group says industry testing revealed that the addition of a threshold to a steel fire doorset … Read more

London Cancer Hub planning application submitted

Aviva Capital Partners (‘ACP’) and Socius have submitted a planning application to Sutton Council for the development of the London Cancer Hub, which they say ‘is set to become the world’s leading district for cancer research and treatment’. Situated within Europe’s leading cancer treatment centre, the proposed 12-acre site in Belmont sits adjacent to The … Read more

MPs proud to lay final bricks at new Essex CDC

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust says the new facility, under construction by Morgan Sindall, will allow patients to access essential diagnostic services such as CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, heart scans, lung checks, blood tests, and X-rays, ‘at a time and place convenient for them, seven days a week’, with an extra 75,000 appointments … Read more

Capital funding boost for primary and community care key for government’s ‘three shifts’, Confederation says

The NHS Confederation is urging the government to use the upcoming Spending Review to continue to increase investment in capital funding for estates, equipment, and technology across the NHS. The Confederation said: “The government has committed to developing a neighbourhood healthcare service, with local neighbourhood hubs which bring primary, community, and other services under one … Read more

More refrigerant bans possible says government

Jacob Andresen, who leads Defra’s F-Gas policy team, told a briefing event hosted by ‘the UK’s primary F-Gas register’, REFCOM, the government was ‘still listening to the industry’, and looking for ideas to help it meet increasingly demanding safety and environmental targets, including potentially speeding up the removal of HFC gases from the market. He explained … Read more