The £134m project is the largest to be procured through the Health Facilities Scotland Framework to date.

At least 10 buildings are planned for the hospital site over the next five years.

Designed by Archial NORR, the Baird Family Hospital will include maternity, gynaecology, breast screening and breast surgery services. A neonatal unit will also be built on site, along with an operating theatre suite and research facilities.

The proposed ANCHOR Centre will provide out-patient and day-patient investigation and treatment services for patients with cancer and blood disorders. The centre will also include pharmacy, research and teaching facilities. The new centre will be located adjacent/and linked into the existing Radiotherapy Centre, which opened in 2014.

Both projects were originally expected to cost around £120m and will be delivered as a design, build, finance and maintain, revenue-funded non-profit distributing project.

Detailed designs must now be drawn up with construction work then due to begin by mid-2018 and the facilities complete by 2020.

NHS Grampian Project Director, Jackie Bremner, said: “This is a very exciting milestone in the development of these important new developments on the Foresterhill Health Campus.

“We look forward to working with our partners at Graham Construction to create high quality modern facilities that will help enable us to deliver quality care designed for the future for the people of the North East, North of Scotland and the Northern Isles.”