The board of directors at Papworth confirmed the consortia still in the tender race today. They are:

Apex Health, which comprises John Laing Investments Limited, Laing O’Rourke and Interserve (Facilities Management)

The Bouygues Consortium comprising Bouygues UK Limited and Ecovert FM

Skanska comprising Skanska Infrastructure Investment, Skanska Construction UK, Skanska Facilities Services and OCS.

The three-strong shortlist was whittled down from six bidders with Brookfield, Balfour Beatty and Sir Robert McAlpine believed to have missed out.

Stephen Bridge, chief executive of the hospital NHS foundation trust said: “There has been a great deal of interest from the private sector in this project and we are delighted to be working with three of the most successful consortia in this market.”

The process of choosing a partner to design, build, finance and operate the new hospital will take place over the next two years.

The three shortlisted consortia will work with the Trust to develop interim bid submissions. These submissions will be evaluated and two of the consortia will be invited to move to the next stage.

Further detailed work is then undertaken with the two remaining consortia before a contract between the Trust and the preferred bidder is signed, which it is anticipated will be in late 2012.

The construction phase is expected to be complete by late 2015.