A construction group commissioned to deliver a controversial new cancer centre for south Wales is facing litigation in England over an earlier NHS project.
Campaigners say a replacement unit for the existing Velindre Hospital in Cardiff has been earmarked for the wrong location - a green space in the city’s Whitchurch district known as the Northern Meadows.
They argue that the new Velindre should be co-located with a general hospital, in line with expert opinion that cancer centres should have immediate access to wider health facilities in case they are needed by patients quickly.
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The campaign group Co-Locate Velindre has now highlighted the fact that Kajima, which has been commissioned to deliver the new Velindre, is one of two defendants to a compensation claim being brought by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust.
The trust has launched legal action against Hadfield Healthcare Partnerships and Kajima Construction Europe after the closure of the Sir Robert Hadfield wing at the trust’s Northern General Hospital.
The trust shut the building in December 2018 after significant fire safety defects were found. It remained closed until summer 2021, and the trust is now seeking more than £15m in compensation after incurring “substantial costs” which it says it continues to accrue.
Elsewhere, Kajima has been involved in having to undertake remedial works in a project on England’s south coast. In June 2004 Children’s Ark Partnerships (CAP) entered into a contract with Brighton and Sussex University Hospital Trust to design, build and finance the redevelopment of the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children.
Simultaneously, CAP engaged Kajima to design, construct and commission these works. Kajima’s liability under this contract expired 12 years from the actual completion date, which was April 2 2007. CAP informed Kajima of concerns surrounding cladding and fire-stopping issues at the hospital in or around September 2018. Kajima agreed to undertake the necessary remedial works, albeit over a lengthy period of time, so as to minimise disruption to the hospital."
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While the building of the new Velindre centre will be done through Kajima Partnerships Ltd, they still fall under common ownership with Kajima Construction Europe.
A spokesman for Co-Locate Velindre said: “Why has Kajima been offered this contract when it has a current lawsuit open against it by an NHS trust? How much will the project cost the NHS in Wales in the long run?
“How have even the Tories abolished PFI (the Private Finance Initiative under which hospitals are built by private companies and repaid by the NHS over long periods) but Welsh Labour continues with PFI/MIM [Mutual Investment Model - a variation on PFI] schemes that have proven to be cost ineffective and follow a mantra of privatisation?
A Velindre University NHS Trust spokesman said: “The development of the new Velindre Cancer Centre is vital in safeguarding the provision of crucial cancer treatment and care for the 1.5 million people of southeast Wales over the coming decades.
It will support the region in improving the quality of care, patient experience and outcomes. The development of the new Velindre Cancer Centre allows us to keep pace with increasing demand as the number of people referred to us with cancer grows every year.
The new Velindre Cancer Centre is being developed under the Welsh Governments’ Mutual Investment Model (MIM) policy which supports additional investment in social and economic infrastructure projects and improves public services in Wales. All contractors associated with the development of the new Velindre Cancer Centre are appointed following a robust procurement process. The new Velindre Cancer Centre construction and maintenance will need to comply with all the required standards.”
Kajima was asked to comment but did not do so.
The Welsh Government declined to comment.
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