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Scottish Health Secretary Breaks Ground At Laing O’rourke’s Dumfries And Galloway Hospital Project

09.06.15

The official start of work on Laing O’Rourke’s Dumfries and Galloway acute hospital project got underway yesterday (8 June 2015) with Health Secretary Shona Robison cutting the first sod at a ground breaking ceremony.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: DENNIS O'KEEFFE, PROJECT DIRECTOR, NHS DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY; BILL HAUGHEY, DIRECTOR, ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT (AND REPRESENTING HIGH WOOD HEALTH) ; GAVIN STEVENSON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY COUNCIL; RONNIE NICHOLSON, LEADER, DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY COUNCIL; SHONA ROBISON, SCOTTISH CABINET SECRETARY FOR HEALTH, WELLBEING AND SPORT; GRENVILLE RILEY, DIRECTOR, HIGH WOOD HEALTH; PHIL JONES, CHAIRMAN, NHS DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY; JEFF ACE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, NHS DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY; JULIE WHITE, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, NHS DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY; DAVID HUNTER, PROJECT DIRECTOR, LAING O’ROURKE (AND REPRESENTING HIGH WOOD HEALTH).

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Leading international engineering and construction company Laing O’Rourke is building the new hospital as part of the High Wood Health consortium with Aberdeen UK Infrastructure Partners, a fund managed by Aberdeen Asset Management.

The new £200 million facility, designed by architects Ryder Architecture and NBBJ, is due to open in 2017 and will have 344 single rooms, an emergency care centre and a new combined theatres complex along with new models of care and the very latest technologies.

Ms Robison said: “I’m delighted to be here today to mark the beginning of work on the new Dumfries Hospital. This is an exciting, and important, day for all those people involved in the project who are finally seeing their hard work come to fruition.

“These new facilities will transform healthcare in the Dumfries region, providing patients with the highest quality facilities in their local area. The Scottish Government is investing over £2 billion in Scotland’s health infrastructure over four years, to 2015-16, with this development being one of many that demonstrates the Scottish Government’s commitment to continually improving health services.”

The construction and delivery of the new hospital will also bring a range of community benefits to the region, including the creation of 150 new jobs, 36 apprenticeships and opportunities for small and medium enterprises to tender.

Bill Haughey (Director, Aberdeen Asset Management) of High Wood Health, said at yesterday’s ground breaking ceremony: “We are delighted to welcome the Scottish Health Secretary, along with our client NHS Dumfries and Galloway, to officially mark the start of construction here today.

“With the works now progressing, not only will the site on which we stand soon begin to transform, but we can also begin to drive the economic and educational benefits we’ve pledged to create through the construction programme and beyond. This is a very exciting project that the High Wood Health consortium and our wider team are proud to be delivering.”

Chairman of NHS Dumfries and Galloway Health Board, Phillip Jones said: “This is a really memorable day for NHS Dumfries and Galloway and the new hospital project. The team has worked hard to get us to this point and the progress we have made is a real testament to their dedication. I am delighted that the Health Secretary was able to join us for this special occasion.”

The project is one of five healthcare projects being secured under the Scottish Government’s Non Profit Distributing (NPD) model. Construction by Laing O’Rourke started in March 2015 and the estates aspects of the facility will be managed by Serco when it becomes operational in 2017.