Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust has launched a market engagement exercise ahead of procuring a long-term construction partner for a £30m programme of ward refurbishments across five London hospitals.
The trust is considering a procurement arrangement designed to provide a sustained pipeline of construction work, potentially supported by a permanent contractor presence on its hospital sites. A formal tender is planned for January 2027, with work expected to begin in June.
The procurement notice states that the trust wants to facilitate a permanent contractor presence on site, “although this will not be guaranteed”.
The programme covers Guy’s Hospital, St Thomas’ Hospital, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospital and Harefield Hospital, together with associated community sites. The proposed contract would run for five years, with an option to extend for a further two years, taking the potential term to May 2034.
The trust wants a flexible arrangement capable of accommodating refurbishment projects of different sizes and potentially extending to other clinical improvement works. The anticipated scope includes general ward modernisation, ventilation upgrades, fire safety improvements and projects requiring Gateway 2 approval under the Building Safety Act.
Contractors may also need to integrate new installations with existing hospital infrastructure, including medical gas supplies, nurse-call systems and building management systems. Working within operational healthcare environments will require careful coordination of construction activities with clinical services, infection control and the need to maintain safe access for patients and staff.
The precise scope of individual projects will be established through surveys, risk assessments and cost modelling. The trust intends to prioritise investment according to clinical requirements, infrastructure condition and statutory risks, allowing the programme to respond to the differing needs of its hospital estate.
Specialist projects involving operating theatres, catheterisation laboratories and major medical equipment programmes will be procured separately, distinguishing these more complex interventions from the general ward refurbishment work.
Design and project development are already under way for three wards. Arcadis secured a £160,000 project management contract in July covering Albert and Somerset wards at St Thomas’ Hospital and Samaritan ward at Guy’s Hospital. Architect Hunters has also received a £290,000 appointment covering the same three wards, while Rider Levett Bucknall was awarded a £75,000 quantity surveying contract for the wider programme.
The appointments establish a professional services team for the initial projects while the trust develops its longer-term construction procurement strategy. The work will help define the requirements, costs and delivery arrangements for refurbishments across the wider estate.
Separately, the trust has begun market engagement for a £5m professional services and consultancy contract to support the programme. This is intended to provide additional specialist expertise as the refurbishment portfolio develops.
An earlier procurement notice, published in May, indicated that the trust was considering refurbishing more than 10 wards over a period of six to seven years, although those plans were described as provisional. The latest £30m initiative provides a framework for taking forward investment in existing clinical accommodation, with the final workload dependent on surveys, prioritisation and individual project requirements.
Contractors have until 30 November to respond to the latest market engagement exercise. The trust is expected to use the responses to inform the planned January 2027 tender, ahead of the anticipated start of construction in June.
