Fresh delay means hospital wing will be two years late

A CONTROVERSIAL £45 million new wing at Whittington Hospital in Highgate faces further delay.
The first phase of the troubled project – already 22 months behind schedule – will now not be ready before April, a further three months later than planned, construction bosses said last week.
Bill Doughty, chief executive of Secondary Market Infrastructure Fund (SMIF), which took over the project from original contractor Jarvis last January, blamed the delay on problems with the building work it inherited and payment issues with sub-contractors.
He said: “We had discussions with Jarvis in February, which revealed certain defects in the original construction.
“When you have buildings that have been standing for some time that are not weather tight, you will have problems.
“Quite a lot of the sub-contractors were suffering with confidence issues. There has been a long-drawn-out process of settling claims with some of the contractors. So we lost about six to eight weeks in the front end of the project.”
He added: “The fundamental difficulty is that we have taken over a job that had not progressed well, part way through its life. It is quite difficult to control all the underlying issues of the project.
“But, ultimately, we are in this for the long term and we are confident we can deliver.”
Building work ground to a halt in December 2004 when workers walked off the site after Jarvis ran out of cash.
The firm had won a lucrative private finance initiative (PFI) contract three years ago to build and manage the new wing.
Hospital bosses will spend up to six weeks testing the 13,750 square metre, four-storey wing – housing a new entrance to the hospital from Magdala Avenue, a canteen and specialist care wards – before opening it to the public.
Work is then expected to begin on the second phase of the project, which involves converting the existing staff canteen and surrounding area into day surgery, endoscopy and radiology wards.
That is now expected to be completed by early next year – more than two years behind schedule.
Senior staff at the Hospital Trust and SMIF have said the cost of delays to the project – which has seen costs escalate from £30 million to more than £45 million – will be met by the private sector and will not affect the hospital’s budget.