CAPITAL PROJECTS
Why PPP is a sensible, balanced approach
While NHS Trusts and the UK healthcare sector await further clarity on the government’s plans for Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to finance new hospital developments, MTX Contracts Ltd continues to refine its own managed services solution to deliver new healthcare facilities without the requirement for challenging capital funding provision. Here, managing director David Hartley explains why it is proving a preferred option for so many Trust boards.
The government’s New Hospitals Programme aims to deliver new hospital buildings without relying on a PFI- style model, but where is the money going to come from, and how can it deliver those new facilities at the pace that is now required? Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has already confirmed that the investment for 250 new Neighbourhood Health Centres will be delivered through public-private partnerships (PPP) forming one of the key elements in the government’s 10 Year Health Plan headlined in July last year. NHS leaders are encouraging a new model of co- investment where significant financial benefits can be realised with a more timely, intelligently designed, and better controlled project model that can outweigh any financing costs.
Above: Modular construction of New Surgical Elective Centre at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
Right: Structural modules are manufactured offsite.
New alternatives will be essential to support the estimated £14bn NHS estate maintenance backlog and outdated estate, while also shaping a working model for neighbourhood health centres, acute hospitals, and decarbonisation projects for the next decade. MTX has been exploring and developing a solution as an evolution of its successful Pre-Construction Service Agreements (PCSA).
A consortia of disciplines The PCSA often involves bringing together a consortia of disciplines, including architects, structural pre-construction service engineers, planners, MEP, fire and medical equippers. MTX teams are responsible for managing risk, cost, and programme – ultimately ensuring their projects can be delivered within a cost envelope on time and with minimal risk. We adopt an industrialised construction approach to improve productivity through
NHS leaders are encouraging a new model of co-investment where significant financial benefits can be realised with a more timely, intelligently designed, and better controlled project model that can outweigh any financing costs.
48 Health Estate Journal March 2026
increased mechanisation and automation throughout the construction process. This adoption ensures a faster programme, reduced disruption, increased productivity, and less impact to the environment. Following construction and soft landing, our facilities management team then provides transparent planned and preventive maintenance ensuring the building remains fit for purpose – this can also include both hard and soft FM disciplines.
A balanced approach to risk So far, no-one knows what that PPP model will really look like. But there is a general perception that the healthcare
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