Consortium wins Fermanagh hospital deal

A CONSORTIUM including builder P Elliott and AIB has won a €380 million-plus contract to build a new hospital in Enniskillen, …

A CONSORTIUM including builder P Elliott and AIB has won a €380 million-plus contract to build a new hospital in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.

The partnership, led by British building and maintenance group Interserve, has won a public-private partnership deal from the local health authority and the Western Health and Social Care Trust to build and maintain the 315-bed hospital.

The contract is worth more than £300 million (€382 million).

The parties said yesterday that the contract would be finalised in the first half of next year. P Elliott and Spanish construction group FCC will build the hospital, which is expected to be completed in 2012. AIB is providing the project finance.

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Interserve said yesterday that it would invest £7.8 million (€9.9 million) in the project, which represents one-third of the equity and debt. It will provide facilities management and maintenance services to the hospital over a 30-year period. This element of the deal is worth £75 million (€95 million).

The 70,000sq m hospital will be located at Wolf Lough to the north of Enniskillen. Interserve said yesterday that it will be one of the most modern of its kind. Interserve is a London-listed multinational group that specialises in design, construction and maintenance services. It has revenues of €1.7 billion and 50,000 workers.

The company has a long-standing involvement in the North and is currently working on three public-private schools contracts.

Cavan-based P Elliott is one of Ireland's top 10 construction groups and is involved in a number of large-scale commercial and housing projects. The group recently published figures showing that turnover fell 2.6 per cent last year to to €298.7 million from €306.5 million in 2006.

The company made profits after tax of €12.9 million in 2007 and benefited by €5.7 million from property revaluations, bring its gain for the year to €18.6 million.

Its other projects include a large mixed apartment and housing complex in Stepaside, Co Dublin, and the redevelopment of the old Irish Times building on D'Olier Street, Dublin.

The Interserve-Elliott consortium was named as the preferred bidder for the Enniskillen hospital deal earlier this month.

Interserve chief executive, Adrian Ringrose, said the project would be its fifth public-private health service deal.

Barry O'Halloran

Barry O'Halloran

Barry O’Halloran covers energy, construction, insolvency, and gaming and betting, among other areas