High Wood Health, a consortium including Laing O'Rourke, has been confirmed as preferred bidder for the contract to build the new district general hospital for Dumfries and Galloway region, UK.

Highwood Health are a consortium, with Laing O'Rourke as construction partner, and Serco providing real estate management services. The consortium beat out competition from Balfour Beatty and Skanska, the two other firms shortlisted in September 2013.

The new District General Hospital for Dumfries and Galloway will be constructed on a site at Garroch Loaning, Dumfries.

This will be delivered under the Scottish Government's Non-Profit Distributing model which is the form of public-private partnership preferred by the Scottish Government.

The project will be developed on a design, build, finance and maintenance basis. The contract period is 27 years (from the award of the contract). The total project investment is estimated between £180 and £200 million.

Dennis O'Keeffe, Project Director of Laing O'Rourke, stated:

Following an intense period of competitive dialogue and evaluation, we are pleased to announce High Wood Health as our preferred bidder.  Their proposed solution is one that brings to bear a consortium of designers and contractors with considerable expertise and resources to fulfil our expectations.

Jeff Ace, Chief Executive for NHS Dumfries and Galloway commented:

This is the major milestone that we have been working towards for months now, along with two bidders who have produced the final designs for the kind of facility that we need so that our staff can deliver the best care possible for our patients.