The new £223 million cost for Aberdeen’s next maternity hospital and cancer centre has been approved by the NHS Grampian board.
At the meeting the board heard the full business case for The Baird Family Hospital and ANCHOR Centre – which are expected to come in £59.9m over the original projected cost.
The facilities, which will both be based on the Foresterhill Health Campus, were originally due to start welcoming patients next year but the ANCHOR Centre is now expected to open in 2022 and the Baird in 2023.
The case will now go to the Scottish Government Capital Investment Group, with approval from the government needed before construction work can begin.
The construction and commissioning of the ANCHOR Centre will take 27 months and The Baird Family Centre will take 35 months.
The projects will create new and improved facilities for both maternity services and cancer care.
Julie Anderson, deputy project director, said the total cost was now £223.6m.
She added: “This follows due process with reviews. The reason for the increase was that we found from these reviews the design is more complex and there are changes within the construction sector at the moment that’s reflected in the increase in cost.”
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At the board meeting yesterday it was said the project could be retendered, but it would cost more money for each month it was delayed, and there was no guarantee prices would change.
Garry Kidd, assistant director of finance, said risks had been calculated, and the team was confident of the costings presented.
Dr Mike Munro, consultant neonatologist, clinical lead for The Baird Family Hospital, said: “I am delighted that this stage of the project has been reached.”
While, Professor Mike Greaves, clinical lead for ANCHOR, said: “This is a tremendous milestone and I am very proud of what has been achieved.”
North-east Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald said: “NHS Grampian’s announcement they have approved the business case for both the ANCHOR Centre and the new Baird Family Hospital is welcome news for patients in the north and north-east.”
She responded by reiterating the government’s investment in the NHS, and added there had been a close review of the costs involved.
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