On 3 March 2009 North Bristol NHS Trust announced Carillion as the front runner to design and build the new £430 million PFI super hospital in Southmead, Bristol. Key Transport Consultants have provided all the transport advice to Carillion throughout the Competitive Dialogue process and for inclusion in their final bid.
The Trust must now complete an Appointment Business Case (ABC) which ensures the scheme is affordable and sustainable for the future before Carillion is formally appointed as the chosen developer of the hospital. This is a requirement of the PFI procurement process and it is anticipated that this will take place next month.
Once this is completed and approved by the local health authority and the South West Strategic Health Authority, it will be submitted to the Department of Health and HM Treasury for final approval. It is anticipated final approval will take place in April.
The first element of work will be the preparation of a planning application for the development which will be submitted to Bristol City Council in the next few months. The new state-of-the-art 800-bed hospital will open its doors to its first patients in 2013/14.
Key Transport Consultants have provided traffic and transport planning advice in relation to emergency/patient/staff and visitor access and parking layouts. We have undertaken initial assessments of road junctions around the Southmead hospital site and provided initial layouts for junction improvements. We also prepared detailed 1:500 highway layouts for the internal road network. Our next task will be to prepare a comprehensive Transport Assessment for submission with the planning application in mid 2009.
KTC has and will continue to work closely with Carillion and a number of other consultants including architect BDP, planning consultant CSJ and landscape architect Cooper Partnership, in developing the masterplan and providing a range of supporting information.