Building experts warn of soaring costs and delays for Watford General rebuild

Two building experts warn today that severe shortage of skilled workers could cause even more delays and higher costs for the planned £1.4bn rebuild of Watford General Hospital – which is already years behind schedule.

• Construction companies last week raised alarm that there are too few workers to meet the needs of the Government’s massive national house building push and other projects
• Lack of capacity in the workforce will increase costs and make contractors shy away from high risk projects – like the complicated Watford General Hospital rebuild
• The sloping site and closeness to main clinical buildings make the Watford project complex and costly
• Treasury, who have to pay the bills for new hospitals, will be ‘unnerved’ by rising costs in an over-heated market – with Watford General a bad case of costs running out-of-control
• Clear new site for West Herts’ emergency care and specialist hospital could offer lower cost and risk

The experts, Bob Scott and Trevor Williams, are both supporters of the New Hospital Campaign. Their statements are here:

Release on industry shortages Dec 2024