Bovis Lend Lease has handed over the first phase of its 拢380m Manchester PFI hospital three months late after technical problems on site.

Bovis, which is part of the Catalyst consortium including US architect Anshen Dyer and facilities manager Sodexho, said that the problem was a small part of the overall scheme.

A spokesperson for Bovis said: 鈥淭he building in question is a mental health outpatients unit, which is one of a dozen. It was handed over in mid-October and, to put this into perspective, has a value of about 拢4m in a scheme that is worth more than 拢300m.鈥�

The spokesperson confirmed that the project was delivered 12 weeks later than expected, as a result of 鈥渢echnical difficulties鈥� at the beginning. He said that the overall project had a construction programme of five years and that the firm was confident that it would be built on programme.

The 30-year deal involves the creation and management of a hospital complex based at the existing Manchester Royal Infirmary, and replaces hospitals at Pendlebury and Booth Hall.

The complexity of the scheme meant that it took almost two years to appoint a preferred partner. An advert inviting expressions of interest was placed in the Official Journal of the European Union in July 2000.

A source close to the project said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 about amalgamating a new children鈥檚 hospital and a new complex 鈥� there are two clients, so it鈥檚 very complicated.鈥�

It鈥檚 an amalgamation of a new children鈥檚 hospital into a new complex 鈥� there are two clients, so it鈥檚 very complicated

Project observer

Meanwhile, Bovis won 拢510m of work from a combination of private and public sector clients in September. The biggest win was a 拢300m contract to build Park Place shopping centre in Croydon, awarded by a joint venture of developer Minerva and Bovis鈥� Australian parent Lend Lease. It also won a 拢200m 25-year PFI contract to handle and recycle waste for 15 local councils in Lancashire.

Bovis has also announced the promotion of Gordon Anderson to head its Scottish business.

Anderson was previously regional operations director for Scotland, and takes over from the former managing director Harry Thorburn, who is now leading the company鈥檚 project audit team.

Anderson started his career with Bovis in London in 1974, and moved to Scotland in 1994. Bovis鈥� major projects north of the border have included the Buchanan Galleries shopping centre in the centre of Glasgow, the Ocean Terminal retail centre in Edinburgh and the Overgate shopping centre in Dundee.

Bovis is also involved in one of the biggest construction projects under way in Scotland, at the BBC鈥檚 Scottish headquarters at Pacific Quay in Glasgow.