The government has agreed to complete the project with public funding following the collapse of original PFI contractor Carillion.

The PFI contract has now been ripped-up by the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen Hospitals NHS Trust.

The Trust will now look to complete the job using the existing supply chain.

Aidan Kehoe, Chief Executive at Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals, said: “The trust intends to continue working with the existing construction contractors involved, so that the construction finishes as soon as possible, maximising the value for money of the taxpayers’ investment in the hospital.”

It added that construction work could restart “as early as November” with a completion date of 2020.

Health Minister Steve Barclay said: “I am pleased to today confirm that the government will step in and publicly fund the remaining work so that the hospital is completed, as it has also done with the Midland Metropolitan Hospital in Birmingham.”

The original cost of the project was set at £280m, although costs have soared to an estimated £350m.

Although the project is at the fit-out stage the final completion bill could still be significantly higher after a survey by consultant Arup raised concerns about significant structural and cladding issues.