Liverpool is one of the UK’s leading areas in medical and health construction, according to a recent study.
Figures have shown that the North West was declared the top region in the UK for construction contracts related to health and medicine, accounting for almost a third of new building projects based on a three month average.
In Liverpool, these plans include the redevelopment of the Royal Liverpool Hospital and the newly-commissioned Liverpool Life Science Accelerator which is valued at £18m.
The redevelopment of the Royal is taking place due to the current hospital not having enough space to house new technologies and so it can create a Health and Life Sciences BioCampus.
Aidan Kehoe, chief executive of the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals Trust, said: “We will have a world class hospital facility designed to provide a whole new approach to healthcare and help us to tackle some of our region’s biggest health issues.
“The new Royal will improve the health and wealth of the city creating hundreds of construction jobs and training opportunities and paving the way for thousands of hi tech jobs on the BioCampus.”
The new project will join the Linda McCartney Centre, the Education Centre, the Boilerhouse and the Liverpool University Dental Hospital which have all been retained.
The review was conducted by Barbour ABI which works alongside the government charting future construction and infrastructure projects where public funding is agreed.
The report examined key government data, including figures from the Office for National Statistics’ Construction New Orders data.
Michael Dall, lead economist at Barbour ABI, said: “It is a significant sign that the region is becoming a hub for the sector. With major refurbishments to hospitals, nursing homes and surgeries in populated areas expect construction contracts and values to increase.”
Nationally, the medical and health industry had £133m construction contracts agreed in August and two out of five of the top-valued arrangements are based in Liverpool.
This is also a 21% increase in medical and health construction activity from the following year. It’s hoped that this surge will continue throughout the year after the government committed to protect health budgets.
It’s hoped that an investment of £4.6bn can be put further health facilities construction in the next year which will encourage future construction projects to be based in the North West.