Hospital build stops amid firm's financial woes

Bosses say the new hospital is months away from completion

Work on a new hospital has stalled after contractors left the site amid the construction company's financial woes.

Merit Construction filed for an administration notice last month and crews left the building site of the new hospital in Berwick, Northumberland, on Friday.

Damon Kent, managing director of Northumbria Healthcare Facilities Management, said there were discussions with the firm to find a solution, but the hospital would be finished "with or without Merit".

The Cramlington-based firm, which employs about 300 people, confirmed it had filed an administration notice on 15 October.

Weeks earlier the firm had been served with a winding up notice by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The hospital was expected to be completed within months.

"Whether it is with or without Merit, the hospital will be built in accordance with the original plans," Mr Kent said.

"We know it's a cause for concern, we know people are wondering what has happened.

"We're not in control of that - the issues we're seeing are ones of Merit's own control.

"It's a frustration in terms of the hurdles we have got, but these things do sadly happen - it's not unusual in construction."

'Final knockings' of project

The Liberal Democrat councillor for Berwick, Isabel Hunter, questioned whether the hospital will now face lengthy delays.

Mr Kent said a timeline would be looked at as soon as they "contractually sit down with a replacement contractor".

"We're in the final knockings of the project," he said.

"It's what I hope is months, but the reality is we don't want to speak on a process we haven't been able to put in place."

Mr Kent said meetings were being held with Merit on a daily basis, but it appeared that the firm would fall into "some form of administration".

"I want to be very open - people locally will see there's nothing happening on site this week because Merit left at lunchtime on Friday - we're not hiding anything."

Merit has been contacted for comment.