As project and cost manager on the mammoth development, Gleeds has been instrumental in delivering the works in collaboration with construction partner Laing O’Rourke, architect BDP and with engineering support from Aecom and WSP. Having been approached by the ABUHB at the start of the pandemic, delivery of several sections of the scheme was expedited to allow a partial opening in April, almost a year earlier than planned, in response to increasing numbers of Covid-19 cases in the locality. 

Following the Board’s recent occupation of the remaining space, the hospital will now provide a centre of excellence to treat the region’s most seriously ill patients, or those with significant injuries, and it will also act as the Emergency Department (A&E) for everyone living in Gwent. In the past, the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall Hospitals have both provided these emergency medical services, but from tomorrow these services will be centralised to ensure the very highest standard of care is provided.

Victoria Head, Gleeds’ Project Director in the UK, said: “As work on the GUH project comes to a close and the building comes to life, welcoming patients and delivering first-class healthcare services, I feel immensely proud about what our team has achieved – the provision of a fantastic facility, well ahead of schedule, and against the backdrop of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. 

Our commitment to doing things differently has paid dividends, from a programme saving of 23% achieved through our use of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), to our pledge to collaborate with both Laing O’Rourke and the ABUHB throughout. The GUH has changed the rhetoric of how healthcare projects should be delivered; we must take this template into the future, striving for better in the construction industry and to support our wonderful NHS, to whom we owe so much.”

The ABUHB provides a complete range of services for patients in Newport, Torfaen, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Monmouthshire and South Powys across 14 sites. The Health Board employs over 14,000 staff, two-thirds of whom are involved in direct patient care. There are more than 250 consultants in a total of over 1000.

Julian Barlow

Julian Barlow
PR Consultant

Our commitment to doing things differently has paid dividends, from a programme saving of 23% achieved through our use of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), to our pledge to collaborate with both Laing O’Rourke and the ABUHB throughout. Victoria Head, Project Director