National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) Programme appoints IHP as main building contractor

10th May 2022

The National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) Programme has appointed Integrated Health Projects (IHP) as main contractor to construct the NRC.

The NRC will be one of the early schemes to be delivered under the government’s commitment to build 40 new hospitals by 2030. It will also be designed to be Net Zero Carbon, in line with the wider Greener NHS pledge to be the world’s first net zero national health service.

Pre-construction activity can now move forward on site which is part of the Stanford Hall Rehabilitation Estate (SHRE) near Rempstone in Nottinghamshire. Main construction will start subject to final agreements from Government.

IHP, an established alliance between VINCI Building and Sir Robert McAlpine, was selected following the Procure process under the P22 Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) procurement framework which provides Design and Construction Services for use by the NHS and Social Care organisations.

Partnering is embedded in the contracting process to achieve best results, quality and value. As part of the contract a Partnering Agreement overlay will be adopted which is a collaboration agreement between the central New Hospital Programme (NHP), Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) and IHP, as well as Trusts and contractors for other early NHP schemes. This approach is intended to create a collaborative environment across Trusts delivering the early schemes within the NHP.

The NRC is a unique and brand-new facility with the potential to transform clinical rehabilitation across the NHS in England and Wales. Thanks to a wide National Clinical Academic Partnership of 22 Higher Education Institutions with the University of Nottingham and Loughborough University as the leads, the NRC will combine under one roof clinical rehabilitation, research, development and commercial innovation, and training and education. The impact of the NRC for patients is anticipated to be game-changing in terms of the quality of life potentially achievable after serious injury or illness.

Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust is the NRC Programme sponsor and NUH is procuring the main contractor appointment.

This is excellent news for all of us eager to see the benefits of the NRC realised and the facility become operational as soon as possible. IHP is a great fit and I’m impressed not just with their technical capability but with their understanding of the uniqueness of the NRC. We’re confident of creating a great construction partnership that will see the outstanding NRC building come to life and help us to get on with treating patients.

We are delighted that IHP has been appointed to the construction of the National Rehabilitation Centre through the P22 DHSC procurement framework. Through the 20 successful years of our alliance, we have demonstrated that we have the expertise and experience necessary to match the unique nature of this project. We look forward to working in close collaboration with NHP and NUH on delivering this new model of rehabilitation in an inspiring setting, which will benefit patients and staff whilst supporting leading edge research.

This is an important milestone for the National Rehabilitation Centre as we deliver on the government’s commitment to build 40 new hospitals by 2030.
“Together with eight existing schemes, this will mean 48 hospitals delivered by the end of the decade. This new facility will transform outcomes for people who have suffered potentially life-changing injury, trauma and illness.”

The NRC is a 70-bed facility designed to integrate with the natural landscape of the Stanford Hall Rehabilitation Estate and specified to the highest standards of sustainability.

The NRC has been designed to ensure it will continue to achieve net zero carbon over the entire life of the building. It will not require any fossil fuels, and carbon-free electricity will be generated through solar panels on the site. The building will be highly insulated to minimise energy loss and will be built using low carbon materials such as timber for its structure.

The NRC will be built on a site approximately 400m from the counterpart Defence facility – the ‘Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) Stanford Hall’ – which is operated by the Ministry of Defence and opened in 2018. Both the NRC and the Defence facility are part of the overall Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC) Programme.

The NRC will share knowledge and some specialist facilities with the Defence facility so that both can benefit. This sharing between NHS medicine and Defence medicine is novel and will enable both facilities to achieve more than the sum of their individual parts.

Alongside IHP, the NRC project team includes Ryder Architecture, Arup and Fira (landscape architects).

< Back to News