Teams from Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust and Integrated Health Projects (IHP) the joint venture between VINCI Building and Sir Robert McAlpine, have topped out at Queen Alexandra Hospital.
The new facility, which is a 5,250 sqm emergency department in the heart of Portsmouth, is due for completion later this year under the ProCure22 framework.
The ceremony included speeches, tea and cake and was attended by Penny Emerit, Chief Executive Officer, Mark Orchard, Group Chief Financial Officer / Deputy Chief Executive of Portsmouth NHS Trust along with Jason Griffiths, Regional Director at VINCI Building.
Mr Griffiths, said: “Well done to the whole team in delivering this very significant milestone, this facility looks first class, and the project is on track to deliver its promises.”
The IHP joint venture has a 20 year history, which started in 2003. It was formed in direct response to the Department of Health’s ProCure21 Framework for NHS capital projects.
Well done to the whole team in delivering this very significant milestone, this facility looks first class, and the project is on track to deliver its promises
At the time, the ProCure frameworks represented something of a revolution. Building on the recommendations of the 1994 Latham report and the 1998 Egan report, ProCure21 tried to embrace the challenges set by the government to move to much more collaborative, integrated designer-constructor-installer supply chains.
Supported by the relatively new ECC/NEC contract forms, for the first time, the constructor became an integral part of the team, helping clients with Business Case development and openly sharing risks and the benefit of outstanding performance.
Entering a new era where project teams pitched to clients with value propositions based around innovation, culture and transparency, moving away from healthcare projects which had been plagued with delays and cost overruns, based on lowest price tendering.
IHP has acknowledged that in order to keep evolving, the modern issue of sustainability needs to be addressed. IHP Framework Director, Jason Gibbings, said: “With the challenges of Net Zero Carbon and a need to standardise and industrialise to make the UK construction industry more predictable and productive, we have a long way to go, but in IHP we also have the resources, skills and appetite to help the industry to achieve the next revolution needed 20 years on.”
