Delays hit £150m Sick Kids project

The opening of the new £150 million Sick Kids Hospital has been delayed by at least six months, NHS Lothian has said.

An aerial view of the new Sick Kids hospital construction site

The consortium behind the project - IHS Lothian Ltd - said that the building would now open to patients in spring 2018, instead of autumn 2017 as previously stated.

Two of the companies working on the construction of the hospital entered administration and provisional liquidation, respectively, resulting in delays in the work. Progress has also been hindered by unfavourable winter weather and unavoidable technical construction problems. Jim Crombie, acting chief executive of NHS Lothian, said: “We will continue to work closely with IHS Lothian Ltd to ensure that our state of the art new hospital is delivered as soon as possible.

“Projects of this scale and, of this nature, are very rarely straightforward and bring with them many complex and sometimes unavoidable challenges. It is important to note that these alterations to the construction timetable will not result in any additional costs to NHS Lothian.”