JERSEY needs to “raise a flag” and emphasise the benefits for contractors of getting involved in building the Island’s new hospital, the senior civil servant in charge of delivering the project has said.
Infrastructure chief officer Andy Scate told a Scrutiny hearing that work was in progress to engage with potential partners for the £710 million project, including both local firms and companies outside of Jersey.
But Mr Scate admitted that it would be necessary to market Jersey in the current competitive market across the British construction industry, particular given the stop-start nature of the project, with three previous schemes having been shelved over the past decade.
“There is interest, and we’ve got to encourage that interest,” he said.
“There’s a lot going on in the UK, with a big hospital programme that’s under review by the Labour government, and a lot of big companies looking at that programme. We have got to raise our flag and say ‘we are here, again’.
“That’s the dilemma. We have been on a journey with this particular project – it’s number four now – so we have to re-engage with the market, and tell people we have something that’s very deliverable, that’s currently in planning and we are confident about our position.”
Officers involved in the project were reluctant to share detail about the identity or number of potential partners with whom discussions had been held ahead of a formal invitation to tender for the work due to be issued in the coming months. But Mr Scate said he anticipated that a “blended solution” would be reached involving both local contractors and businesses from further afield.
Health Minister Tom Binet said he supported the policy of not issuing precise details about the costs of individual components within the £710m scheme, saying this was likely to create “commercial tensions” between potential bidders which would encourage competitive quotes and maximise the value achieved for taxpayers’ money.
During the meeting of the Hospital Review Panel, Deputy Binet and officials were also asked about the recent planning application for the Overdale site, which stated that the hospital might not enter service until early in 2029.
Panel chair Deputy Jonathan Renouf said the project appeared to have “slipped” by six months from previous estimates. Deputy Binet said that this was accounted for by the fact that it was likely to be several months between the last brick being laid, which he still hoped would be by the end of 2028, and the first patients moving in after the building had been fully equipped.
Project director Jessica Hardwick said that it had always been acknowledged that some flexibility was needed in the timeline, and that being too rigid about finishing the project entirely by the end of 2028 would place a constraint on the partners who were appointed to the project.
