The South Australian Government has selected a consortium comprised of Leighton Contractors, Hansen Yuncken, Macquarie Capital Group and Spotless to construct the Royal Adelaide Hospital (NRAH).

The consortium, named the SA Health Partnership, will build a new state-of-the-art hospital under the State Government's Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

The SA Health Partnership will undertake the financing, design, construction and operation of the non-clinical services of the hospital for approximately 35 years, while SA Health will continue to operate the hospital and provide all core clinical services, staffing, teaching and research.

Leighton Contractors will undertake the design and construction of the new hospital in joint venture with Hansen Yuncken. Craig Laslett, Managing Director of Leighton Contractors said, “The New Royal Adelaide Hospital will be the largest and most technologically advanced hospital ever built in Australia, and one that will be recognized as a benchmark internationally,” he said.

Laslett also said the healthcare sector is a significant growth area for Leighton, and that the project will demonstrate the value of government/ industry partnerships in the social infrastructure sector. “The PPP model is a quality and viable mechanism for delivering social infrastructure projects because it recognizes the specialist areas of each partner and encourages efficiency, innovation and, ultimately, economic value for communities,” he said.

On completion, the NRAH will be the largest and most advanced hospital in South Australia with 800 beds, including 100 same-day beds, and 80,000 same-day and overnight admissions per year.

Work will begin on the new hospital in the first half of 2011 with a proposed completion date of 2016.