The work at Guy’s Hospital will bring most of Guy’s and St Thomas’ cancer treatment services into one state-of-the-art location.
The precise value of the contract is not yet known with building cost estimates ranging from the initially advertised £90 million through to £120 million.
But it is understood that budget constraints could mean the actual deal is now worth closer to £60 million.
Included among those Laing O’Rourke beat were Brookfield, Skanska, Bovis Lend Lease and Mace. The fifth firm to miss out was Kier.
Skanska had pieced together a strong bid having linked up with Hopkins Architects, the practice behind the design for the Evelina children’s hospital at the St Thomas’s site which was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize architect’s award back in 2006.
For its latest project, client Guy’s & St Thomas’s NHS Foundation wanted architects to form teams with contractors in order to bid for the work. Laing O’Rourke has teamed up with star architect Rogers Stirk Harbour headed by Richard Rogers.
It is understood that both Laing O’Rourke chairman Ray O’Rourke and Lord Rogers himself made personal pitches as part of the presentation.
The 19,000 sq m scheme is part of the hospital’s 2020 Vision initiative which aims to carry out a host of improvements by the end of the decade. These include refurbishing the East Wing at St Thomas’s as well as the iconic Guys Tower.