Kier Group plc has announced that Kier Ltd, part of a consortium which includes Tilbury Douglas, has reached financial closure on the Neath & Port Talbot Hospital in Baglan, South Wales. This project, worth £432m over 27.5 years, is the first major Welsh hospital to be provided under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

As part of the project, Caxton Facilities Management, Kier Group's Cardiff-based subsidiary, will provide the non-clinical support services through a FM contract worth £160m.

The new hospital will provide 270 beds, outpatients, day hospital facilities, rehabilitation, palliative care, a mental health unit and a full range of diagnostic services. Work on the 30-month construction programme started this week.

Under the concession agreement with Bro Morgannwg NHS Trust, Baglan Moor Healthcare will construct and operate the new hospital facility for the Trust with a full range of support services over a 27-year period, with the Trust remaining in full control of core clinical services.
Other members of the Baglan Moor Healthcare consortium are healthcare designers SSL, Tilbury Douglas and Charterhouse Project Equity Investments.

Kier Group Chairman, Colin Busby, commented: "This is an important achievement for Kier Group in two respects. It consolidates our position as a leading player in the PFI healthcare sector. Having secured the first major PFI hospital in Scotland at Hairmyres for our consortium HDGH Holdings Ltd, we have now repeated the achievement in Wales at Baglan Moor. It also marks a major step forward in establishing our FM business, with Caxton FM securing a significant long term contract in the rapidly-growing hospital services sector."

Anna Lagerkvist