Breaking new ground

The Hospital 2.0 Alliance

Rebecca Garcia

_{Alliance Director}
_{Kier Construction}

Also on this panel:

Emma Whigham

_{Hospital 2.0 Alliance Operations Director,}
_{New Hospital Programme}

Rob Woodcock

_{Director Of Operations,}
_{Willmott Dixon}

Terry Muckian

_{Executive Vice President,}
_{Building, Skanska}

Quick read

The Hospital 2.0 Alliance has been created to deliver at scale, shifting healthcare delivery from fragmented, one-off projects to a connected, long-term programme
Early market engagement has created a fairer, more collaborative model that shares risk, aligns partners and gives contractors the confidence to re-engage.
Alliancing is driving behavioural change - moving from transactional delivery to shared responsibility for programme outcomes.
Collaboration between contractors, customers and the New Hospital Programme will be tested when challenges arise, particularly around skills and supply chain capacity.
Standardisation is essential for pace and certainty, but must be applied intelligently to react to local needs and enable community identity and future adaptability.
The Alliance is already driving practical action, from coordinated supply chain planning, early workforce strategies and a focus on digital and operational readiness.

Chaired by Rebecca Garcia, the discussion focused on how the New Hospital Programme represents a step-change in the way healthcare infrastructure is delivered - moving from fragmented, project-by-project delivery towards a programmatic, standardised and collaborative model designed to build multiple hospitals at pace and with greater certainty.

The starting point was scale. Delivering 11 new hospitals in the first wave, with further waves planned, could not be achieved through traditional approaches. NHP alliance director Emma Whigham explained that the Alliance was formed out of necessity, recognising that no single organisation, or traditional supply-chain model, could deliver this ambition alone.

It requires a coordinated approach across government and industry, underpinned by greater certainty in the pipeline. The programme required early engagement with the market, a rethink of commercial structures and a more open conversation about what would make healthcare delivery viable and attractive for contractors and the supply chain.

We weren’t going to be able to do this with one or two contractors. We weren’t going to be able to do this with a small supply chain.

Emma Whigham, New Hospital Programme

Emma Whigham
^{Explains how the alliance was formed out of necessity.}

That early engagement was repeatedly highlighted as a differentiator. Both Terry Muckian and Rob Woolcock reflected on how feedback from contractors was actively listened to during procurement, particularly around historic challenges in the healthcare sector. Issues such as risk allocation, pipeline uncertainty and resource constraints were not dismissed. Instead, they informed a model that offered clearer visibility of future work and fairer terms, helping to rebuild confidence in the sector. Just as importantly, NHP set the tone for collaboration during procurement, making the culture of the Alliance clear from the outset.

“The culture and the tone was set during procurement this had only become more open as the Alliance moved into delivery. As a result, the Alliance has got off to a flying start, with contractors coming in ready to collaborate from day one”.

Terry Muckian, Skanska

A major theme was behaviour change. Contractors on the Alliance are no longer competing project by project. They remain responsible for their own schemes, but are also collectively accountable for the success of the wider programme.

We also then, through the Alliance, have a responsibility to ensure that the other schemes are delivered successfully as well as future schemes.

Rob Woolcock, Willmot Dixon

This marks a fundamental shift in behaviour, changing how decisions are made, how risks are surfaced and how solutions and lessons are shared.

Rob described how unusual this initially felt being a significant departure from industry norms, but one that is already starting to build trust. A more open and transparent environment, described by panellists as a “safe space” for challenge – is already enabling earlier identification of issues and a willingness to come together and jointly solve problems.

The panellists were clear that this openness will be tested. Emma was candid that wave one will not be perfect. The value of a long-term framework lies in learning and improvement over time, but that depends on contractors being willing to share what has not worked, as well as what has. This is a significant shift in a competitive industry, yet the panel agreed it is essential if the programme is to improve with each wave.

Supply chain capacity emerged as one of the most pressing challenges. Launching multiple large projects at the same time places pressure on skills, manufacturing and specialist trades, particularly in areas with limited local capacity.

Terry highlighted that the market does not have surplus resource and that uniformity and repeatability will be key to avoiding unnecessary strain. Just as importantly, it will depend on the Alliance planning collectively and acting in a coordinated way, rather than each partner managing demand in isolation. The Alliance is already responding, with contractors mapping demand together, discussing preferred suppliers and identifying pinch points before they become critical.

Standardisation sat at the centre of this conversation. The panel stressed that standardisation is not about creating identical buildings everywhere, but about standardising where it adds most value - components, processes and design principles that enable repeatability, productivity and quality.

This allows lessons to be carried forward and supports industrialisation and investment in UK manufacturing by providing a reliable pipeline. At the same time, there was recognition that hospitals must respond to local needs and reflect their communities. The key to the challenge is striking the right balance - standardising the parts that add the most value, while allowing flexibility in areas that create local identity and social value.

Future-proofing also featured strongly. Questions from the audience focused on how standardised hospitals can adapt to changing clinical models, digital maturity and rapidly evolving technology. The response centred on designing infrastructure that can accommodate change without major disruption. Examples included consistent room sizes that allow spaces to change function, digital infrastructure that supports different stages of maturity, and design choices that reflect evolving expectations around privacy, wellbeing and care delivery.

People were also a recurring thread throughout the discussion. Beyond construction, the success of the programme depends on the workforce that will operate these hospitals. The panel described early thinking around training environments that allow clinical and operational teams to experience new spaces and ways of working before hospitals open. This aligns with a shift away from a traditional handover mindset towards an outcomes-led focus on readiness for the first patient.

The session closed on a realistic and optimistic note. The ambition of the Hospital 2.0 Alliance is significant and challenges remain, from skills shortages to long-term certainty. However, the discussion left a clear impression that the programme is building the foundations for a more collaborative, predictable and resilient approach to healthcare delivery. The real test will come as projects move on site and lessons from wave one shape what follows.

What will be most critical to the long-term success of the Hospital 2.0 Alliance?

A clear, funded pipeline that gives the market confidence to invest
A supply chain with the skills and capacity to deliver that pipeline at scale
Getting the balance right between standardisation and local needs
Preparing hospital workforces to operate new buildings, technology and care models
True collaboration and shared accountability across government and construction partners

Key take-aways

Alliancing is driving behavioural change: success depends on moving from transactional relationships to shared ownership of outcomes across government and industry.
Effective industrialisation and programmatic approach , is essential to meet the scale and pace of new hospital delivery.
Trust, early engagement and fair commercial models are central to sustaining collaboration across customers, contractors and the supply chain.
Standardisation has to be done with intent where it drives pace, productivity and quality pairing with flexibility to allow hospitals to reflect local needs while remaining adaptable to future change

_{With over 30 years in healthcare and £500m of NHS projects delivered since 2024, Kier brings proven expertise to the Hospital 2.0 Alliance, supporting the delivery of modern, high-quality care environments.}