Northumberland construction company Merit has been enlisted to build a £30m new hospital in Berwick, in a project set to create hundreds of new jobs.
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has awarded the contract to the Cramlington company, a former company of the year at the North East Business Awards which recently announced expansion of its headquarters as it aims to grow its operations.
Plans for the scheme were given the green light by Northumberland County Council last December, and further funding has been made available to make sure the hospital is fit for the future of health care.
The current infirmary, which was originally built in 1874, is no longer suitable to deliver modern-day healthcare.
The new purpose-built hospital will re-provide all the existing services with the addition of an accredited endoscopy suite, to deliver care closer to people's homes, and house the Well Close Medical Group GP practice.
Work to demolish vacant parts of the current hospital is to begin this month, paving the way for construction of the new development to start on the northern end of the site in the summer.
Cramlington based Merit, which recently more than doubled its manufacturing footprint to around 270,000sqft, is a pioneer of offsite construction techniques so a lot of the scheme will be made within its factories before being brought onto the site and put in place.
Merit managing director Tony Wells said: "We are delighted to be working with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to deliver Berwick's new hospital. As Merit is based in Northumberland we are proud to be delivering a facility in our local area.
"Merit recently launched a new division, Merit Health, to provide healthcare providers and patients with next generation hospital facilities. We have collaborated with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Northumbria Healthcare Facilities Management (NHFM) to develop a design that is zero carbon emissions, has built in infection control and is technically enabled for the future of health care.
"A large part of the construction work will be undertaken offsite in the Merit factory in Cramlington. The use of offsite manufacture means that Merit can control the quality, significantly improve the programme and minimise disruption to those who live and work in Berwick."
Original Link: BusinessLive
