THE latest chapter in the bid to build a new hospital for the Island is set to be unveiled today.
Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet will publish the outcome of a review, initiated by the new government in July, which could see the project heading back to the drawing board.
Around £120 million has been spent on the project over the past decade, with proposals to develop the Overdale site passed by the States Assembly earlier this year, with planning permission following in June.
States Members were expected to be briefed about the review this morning, with the outcome to be made public by Deputy Binet when he addresses the Assembly today, while a press conference has been scheduled for 1pm.
Although the contents of the review remained under wraps ahead of the announcement, it appears unlikely that the Overdale project will continue as planned, with Deputy Binet having said in July that he considered the project, previously costed at £804m, to be unaffordable.
A scaled-down version of the Overdale plans is one possible outcome of the review, while there is also the possibility of the return to some form of dual-site proposal, an idea first put forward in 2013 by then Health Minister Anne Pryke, at a cost of £297m. The government’s new direction for the project will have a knock-on effect for other building schemes in progress. They include work on the former Les Quennevais School site to provide temporary health facilities while the hospital is built, and the development of new housing by Dandara at Kensington Place – a project placed on hold by the government last month.
One elected representative who will be studying today’s developments closely is former Deputy Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham, who held political responsibility for the project prior to the general election in June.
Deputy Farnham said: ‘I look forward to seeing the report and expect it to be evidence-based, including strong financial evidence to support any claims about reduced costs, and am also looking for it to include proper proposals for a clear course of action going forward.’
The review was originally set to be published by 19 October as part of the new government’s pledge to address key priorities within 100 days of taking office in July, but was subsequently postponed by two weeks, with the death of Queen Elizabeth II cited as one reason for the delay.
In early 2021, the previous government estimated that the cost of delaying the project was about £100,000 per day, while more recently Treasury Minister Ian Gorst said the cost of the project team alone was £55,000 per month.
