Bevan Ashford has been appointed joint legal adviser to the largest NHS PFI/PPP scheme in Scotland.
Greater Glasgow NHS Board, responsible for the entire Greater Glasgow NHS system, including four Trusts, appointed the Bristol-based firm following a successful tender in January. Also reported to be tendering were Allen & Overy, Eversheds, Freshfields Bruckhaus Der-inger, Linklaters, Masons, Pinsent Curtis Biddle and Scottish heavyweights Dun-das & Wilson, Maclay Murray & Spens, McGrigor Donald and the adviser on the first phase, MacRoberts.
Bevan Ashford, together with its tender partner, Scottish firm Shepherd & Wedderburn, will advise on Greater Glasgow NHS Board's £700m capital investment in acute services.
The huge scheme arises from a review of acute services carried out by Greater Glasgow NHS Board and the NHS Trusts, published in August 2002. The review's objective was to develop a framework for improving the provision of core adult acute care in the Glasgow area, which is currently delivered from six sites.
The project will concentrate acute services on three main sites and includes the development of two new ambulatory care and diagnostic centres at Stobhill Hospital and adjacent to the Victoria Infirmary, as well as the redevelopment of three existing Glasgow hospitals.
Steve Hughes, head of Bevan Ashford's built environment division, led a three-person tender team, together with two from Shepherd & Wedderburn, led by partner Rhona Harper.
Although based in Bristol, Bevan Ashford's 25-strong projects team, which includes eight partners, operates largely from London. The team was recently boosted with the hire of senior associate Stephen Pearson, who joined the firm's Birmingham office from Eversheds.
Bevan Ashford is also the central adviser on the NHS Lift scheme and the largest defence PFI, the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft scheme. Clients include Bovis Lend Lease, Kajima, Costain, Bank of Ireland and RBS/NatWest.
Hughes said: "This is one of the largest NHS PPP/PFI deals ever concluded and certainly the largest NHS scheme in Scotland. Over the next 7 years, it will literally transform the provision of healthcare for Glasgow."
