Tyne and Wear-based M&E specialist Opus Building Services has now been drafted in as interim contractor and is already established on site, re-employing most of the former Merit team to keep momentum going while the trust begins the hunt for a permanent replacement builder.

Damon Kent, managing director at Northumbria Healthcare Facilities Management, said that the priority now was stabilising the half-built project and pushing towards completion after a difficult few weeks for staff and subcontractors.

Internally, floors, walls, ceilings and staircases are already in, with the inpatient ward and Well Close Medical Group areas close to finished. Attention is now turning to theatre and endoscopy zones before the building undergoes full testing and validation to ensure clinical services run as they should.

Outside, Opus is focusing on securing and tidying the site, completing glazing, and progressing plant works on the roof ahead of cladding and final groundworks.

The trust has not yet been able to provide a revised completion date but promised regular updates as the programme resets.