NEWS REPORT
NHS plans to build commercial hotel
A commercial hotel forms part of the vision
debate as to where effi ciencies can be made by the government. The National Health Service (NHS) is one area earmarked for major reform, but already one trust is embarking on a project among the fi rst of its kind in the UK and one that it hopes will deliver opera- tional and fi nancial returns. Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH), a foundation trust responsi- ble for Addenbrooke's and the Rosie hospitals in Cambridge, is looking to secure a strategic partner for The Forum – a multi-million pound devel- opment planned at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC). The Forum is designed to cater for the future expansion of the CBC and will be situated on a 35,500sq m (382,119sq ft) site. Among its com- ponents will be a commercial hotel – part of CUH's bid to pursue "new and innovative approaches" to devel- oping the facilities. "The Forum is a combination of a hotel, an education and conferencing centre and private hospital," says CUH director of corporate development St Clair Armitage. "A partnership vehicle, which we will form jointly with our stra- tegic partner, will be responsible for delivering all three elements." Armitage explains that the strate-
A
gic partner will determine the size and scale of The Forum, with the joint part- nership vehicle to be responsible for the management of the facilities. The planned development was born from a need for facilities to support the
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Cambridge University Hospitals has announced that it's looking for a strategic partner for its planned Forum development, which will include a hotel, private hospital and conference centre. Pete Hayman reports
t a time when the nation's public fi nances are under strain, there has been far-reaching
The proposed Forum development at the CBC
"The Forum is a combination of a hotel, an education
and conferencing centre and a private hospital" St Clair Armitage
expanding CBC, says Armitage. Not only is the campus home to CUH's two hos- pitals, but also to a number of research companies including GlaxoSmithKline and the Wellcome Trust.
A NEW SOURCE OF REVENUE But while the provision of accommoda- tion and conference facilities is at the heart of the venture, there is another element to it. "There is a secondary requirement," says Armitage. "The trust wishes to receive a revenue stream from the development." Armitage says that 100 per cent of
revenue generated by the new hotel and The Forum is to be reinvested by CUH into supporting its NHS activities. A CUH spokesperson added that both Addenbroke's and the Rosie
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already offer facilities for the rela- tives of patients who are visiting the hospitals for a long period of time. The primary purpose of the new hotel, as Armitage points out, will be to cater for the "variety of people" who use the CBC. "Today, about 10,000 peo- ple come to work here on a daily basis. By the time the campus developments are complete, there should be somewhere in the region of 18,000-20,000 people coming to work here every day," he says. "We want the hotel to be high
quality," Armitage continues. "But we expect it will have, as most hotels do, a variety of facilities that will attract different rates at differ- ent times. We've said that the hotel and conferencing centre should include the ability to service confer- ences up to about 600 delegates. And it will include a variety of cater- ing and other facilities as you would expect from a quality hotel." CUH will not be responsible for oper- ating facilities built as part of The Forum project; rather, it will be down to the new partnership vehicle that will be established alongside the strategic partner being sought by the trust. The CUH is hoping to fi nd a part- ner within the next 12 months, before work is carried out to fi nalise The Forum's design. The project is set to be completed in 2015 at the earliest. Whether it offers a benchmark for other large NHS trusts to follow remains to be seen, but CUH's vision for The Forum has the potential to gen- erate valuable revenue to support NHS activities at a time when government purse strings are being tightened. ●
ISSUE 3 2012 © cybertrek 2012
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