Mott MacDonald advises on Mental Health Hospital
In order for the Royal Edinburgh Hospital to continue functioning as a world class mental health facility, the NHS Lothian has reached an agreement with the Norddeutsche Landesbank to finance the redevelopment of the hospital. Mott MacDonald was hired as one of the key advisors for the project.
The Royal Edinburgh Hospital is an in 1813 founded metal health facility situated in Morningside, Edinburgh that provides acute psychiatric and mental health services, including treatment for learning disabilities and dementia. In the first century of its existence it housed and supported the mentally ill as well as being reputed as a place for post graduate education in psychiatry. In the 20th century it was modernised to reflect the changes in understand of mental illness, and continues to be a respected institution to this day.
As part of the wider programme from the Hub South East Scotland*, provider of healthcare services NHS Lothian decided to redevelop the hospital on its existing site. The modernisation of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital Campus will occur over the next ten years, with the old outmoded inpatient facilities redesigned and replaced. The first major replacement will be of the adult acute and older people’s mental health service units with a new 15,500 square meter single story building located on the western edge of the existing Morningside campus. The new facility is set to provide 185 beds, aiming at patients needing care for brain injuries as well as those requiring more general psychiatric and mental health services. In addition, new state of the art facilities will be created for intensive psychiatric and to house the acutely mentally ill.
The redevelopment and expansion of the Royal Edinburgh Mental Health Hospital are expected to be completed by the end of 2016.
To finance the £45.2 million redevelopment, NHS Lothian searched for investors and reached an agreement with the Norddeutsche Landesbank. The financial close was reached after the bank hired consulting firm Mott MacDonald as its lenders’ technical advisor on the scheme. Mott MacDonald’s due diligence included: reporting potential technical issues and commercial implications arising from the design, build, finance and maintain (DBFM) agreement and schedules. This covered service level specification and payment mechanism, the engineering, procurement and construction contract and the facilities management agreement. Furthermore, the firm also reviewed the design solution, construction planning and operations methodologies proposed, capital and operating expenditure and lifecycle costing.
Going forward in the project, the firm will provide construction monitoring services. Mark Bourke, Project Director at Mott MacDonald, comments: “We are delighted to have assisted Norddeutsche Landesbank in the closing of the project and look forward to supporting the delivery of the Scottish Futures Trust’s £2 billion countrywide hub initiative over the next decade.”
* The hub South East Scotland Programme works to develop and redevelop a wide range of socially beneficial and sustainable local community services, such as neighbourhood services, health, social care and education, and provides continuous improvement in both cost and quality in public procurement.
