Northumbria Healthcare and contractors Lendlease have confirmed they've settled a multi-million pound court case over a range of defects found in the construction of the £95m Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital (NSECH) in Cramlington.
The settlement remains confidential, but Northumbria Healthcare had initially sought more than £140m, claiming that £70m was needed to build a temporary structure in order to "decant" NHS hospital services - move them to new premises - while wide-ranging work takes place to fix issues in the main building.
The "defects" identified range from those relating to fire safety "including fire-stopping, fire dampers, fire doors, smoke clearance, smoke curtains and use of lifts for evacuation", issues with the "fire-rating" of door frames, and the "fire resistance" of external walls. It is understood that work to fix fire safety issues and ensure public safety took place prior to action being taken.
