INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT
Above: Reginald Centre, Leeds.
Left: Bluebell Lane Health Centre, Huyton.
The Nelson Health Centre, London.
infrastructure at scale and where it is needed most. Over the last 25 years, the LIFT programme has secured over £2.5bn of private capital to deliver 350 quality community health centres across England. Crucially, nine out 10 NHS LIFT health centres have been delivered in deprived communities, ensuring that vital health facilities have been delivered to those that need them most. As chair of The LIFT Council – the umbrella group of private sector partners in the NHS LIFT programme – our members continue to see the vital role our buildings play in the NHS, serving at the frontline of primary health care in communities the length and breadth of the country. And as we look back on what LIFT was set out to deliver 25 years ago, the challenges and opportunities facing today’s health landscape are strikingly similar – once again we face an NHS in need of crucial investment and modernisation; a clear focus on moving more care into neighbourhoods, and the need for private investment
to make it happen at a time of constrained public resources. It is therefore no surprise that the government’s 10-Year Health Plan published last year made clear references to the ‘successful’ NHS LIFT model and pointed to it as a key building block as a new PPP model is created to help deliver the next chapter for the NHS. Indeed, the government’s recently published Neighbourhood health framework again picks out LIFT buildings as an important way to deliver on its neighbourhood health ambitions, saying that ‘Our wave 1 pipeline for 2026 to 2027 will largely focus on repurposing existing NHS buildings – mostly NHS Property Services and LIFT estates’. And it is not only LIFT but also a number of other
delivery models that can offer us important ‘lessons learned’. In the Neighbourhood Health Forum, many of our members are experienced not only in LIFT but also programmes like the Mutual Investment Model (MIM) and Third Party Development (3PD) programme that have helped to deliver some vital public infrastructure. Through this experience, we know where the public sector excels, and we know where we can best support as a private sector partner.
So, as we look back on 25 years of LIFT and our
experience of other PPP models, what have we learned and how can it help to shape our future approach to health estates delivery? For me, five key points stand out.
1. The need to deliver at scale and pace With the government re-opening the door to the private sector in its neighbourhood health plans, we have already seen considerable interest from investors, contractors, and service providers. However, what we now need is scale and pace to help lock-in this newfound confidence and keep up the momentum. If the UK is to secure investment in its neighbourhood
health plans, a clear pipeline of projects under a new PPP model is essential. Any sign that neighbourhood health infrastructure will be delivered in an ad hoc or piecemeal basis will simply erode private sector
52 Health Estate Journal August 2026
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