Deal struck to allow work on new Royal Liverpool Hospital to resume after Carillion collapse

A deal has been signed that will see work restart on the stalled building of the new Royal Liverpool Hospital.

Work stopped when the construction giant Carillion collapsed in March.

Now, Laing O'Rourke will be the main management contractor.

It's hoped work can begin again next month.

The agreement will take effect immediately.

Aidan Kehoe, chief executive of the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust said: "We are delighted to announce that we, The Hospital Company, lenders and the Government have all signed up to this agreement, that means construction can restart soon and that the new Royal will now be publicly funded."

The new hospital will provide single room ensuites for inpatients, with 646 bedrooms across 23 wards.

Once the new Royal has opened, the current hospital will be demolished and landscaped to provide underground car parking and space for the creation of a Liverpool Health Campus.

What's the funding situation?

The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust says the total cost to the public sector will be lower than originally thought.

Under the terms of the original contract, the funders will receive £42m as a a termination payment from the Trust - needed to cover PFI unitary payments that The Hospital Company will no longer receive.

The cost of the remaining construction work, and the projected cost of maintaining the hospital will now fall to the Trust.

The payment, along with the funding for the remaining construction work identified to date, is being made available to the Trust from the Department of Health and Social Care, through Public Dividend Capital funding.

The equity funders (Carillion Private Finance and Pensions Infrastructure Platform) will lose all their investment.