Press Release

A landmark programme to deliver 14 primary care centres across Ireland is set to get underway following a circa €140 million deal. Construction will start immediately, with the centres being delivered over a twenty-seven month programme.

New facilities will be built in Dublin, as well as at locations in Galway, Kildare, Limerick, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, Waterford, Tipperary and Wexford.

A first in [the Republic of] Ireland’s primary care market; the programme is being delivered by a consortium comprised of Prime, Balfour Beatty and InfraRed Capital Partners Limited (as the investment adviser to HICL Infrastructure Company Limited (HICL), the listed infrastructure fund).

News of financial close follows the announcement of the Consortium as preferred tenderer last May for the 25-year PPP (design, build, finance and maintain) contract. Since then the Consortium has worked closely with the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) to reach financial close.

The Consortium combines the considerable skills and resources of healthcare property company Prime, international infrastructure group Balfour Beatty, and InfraRed Capital Partners Limited, a leading global investment manager focused on infrastructure and real estate. Over the last five years Prime, Balfour Beatty and InfraRed have successfully raised over €3 billion of senior debt funding to support projects across the PPP infrastructure and primary care markets. 

Based on the concept of ‘One project, fourteen communities’, each centre has been designed to meet local needs and make a positive difference to the community within which it is located, while the design process has also sought to focus on elements such as energy conservation, materials selection, operational needs and maintenance requirements, all aimed at delivering value for money for the HSE and NDFA.

As experienced providers in the PPP and primary care markets, Prime and Balfour Beatty have brought together a team of 500 professionals to deliver the project.

A key element of the project will be local procurement, with companies such as Balfour Beatty Ireland, JJ Rhatigan & Company and Aramark Ireland forming the backbone of the delivery team.  Local subcontractors and suppliers will also feature strongly in each project.

In addition to GP services at each of the new primary care centres, some sites will include additional services such as dental services, physiotherapy, speech and language services, community nursing, community mental health services, child and adolescent mental health services, early intervention teams, and doctor on call services.

This is an ambitious programme and one that represents a significant investment in healthcare for Ireland, which will benefit patients across the country.

Will Bilbrough, Development Director at Prime plc, said:  “It is exciting to have reached this latest milestone and I very much look forward to seeing the successful delivery of each centre that, when complete, will provide a new direction for primary care services in 14 communities across Ireland. I have been delighted with the commitment from the whole project team and when the centres open, I am certain that each building will be valued by both patients and the healthcare professionals who will work in them.”

Tzvetelina Bogoina, Balfour Beatty Bid Director, said: "Balfour Beatty is a trusted partner in the healthcare sector having delivered over £2billion worth of hospitals and care centres over the past decade. We look forward to handing over the primary care centres which will make a positive difference to local communities in terms of health outcomes as well as added social value outcomes in the creation of local employment and local supply chain opportunities and student placements and taster days throughout the construction phase.”

Tony Roper, Director at InfraRed Capital Partners Limited added: “HICL has successfully invested alongside Prime in a number of primary care developments over the last few years and is very pleased to have reached Financial Close on this project and to be able to have the opportunity to work alongside its Consortium partners and the HSE to deliver new vital improvements to the provision of primary care in Ireland.”

ENDS

Images top to bottom: Ballymote Primary Care Centre, Dungarvan Primary Care Centre, Tuam Primary Care Centre

For further information please contact:

Jo Gadsby
Pebble PR
PR Director
Prime plc
T: 00 44 (0)1743 709 583 
E: j.gadsby@pebblepr.com

Louise McCulloch
Balfour Beatty
Head of Media & PR
T: 00 44 (0)207 963 2150
E: louise.mcculloch@balfourbeatty.com

Kira Foschi
InfraRed Capital Partners Limited
Communications Manager
T: 00 44 (0)20 7484 1860
E: kira.fosch@ircp.com  

Notes to editors:

Project locations

 
Prime plc:

Prime is a healthcare property business operating across the whole healthcare market. The group was formed in 1996 bringing together expertise in property investment, design, development and healthcare. This diversity affords the agility to swiftly adapt services and business models to help clients improve patient and staff experience and deliver more for their local health economy. Its focus is strategic planning, sourcing, design, development; funding, ownership and management of health and social care properties. The group acts as a strategic and commercial property partner for NHS trusts in the UK, local authorities, GPs and other providers who can source all their property and estates services from Prime - from strategic planning to project delivery.

For more information see www.primeplc.com

Balfour Beatty

Balfour Beatty is a trusted delivery partner to the healthcare sector and has delivered £2 billion worth of healthcare projects in the past decade providing 800 mental health beds and 3000 acute beds.  It has strong financial covenants providing clients with financial certainty for schemes requiring private sector investment. With its specialist Engineering Services business, Balfour Beatty is able to provide innovative and cost-effective solutions such as its award-winning off-site manufacturing facility, Modular Systems+. 

Current schemes Balfour Beatty is delivering in the sector include the £46m Acute Mental Health and North Ayrshire Community Hospital in Irvine, the £26m Guys Hospital Tower Wing, the £50m Great Ormond Street Hospital refurbishment projects, the £17.5m Wellington Hospital Platinum Centre project in St John’s Wood, (Britain’s largest private hospital); £30m mechanical services for the Cramlington Hospital near Newcastle, £7m St Mary’s Hospital Older Persons Unit, Kettering, £23m Women and Children’s centre at Princess Royal Hospital Telford, and the new £23m QEII Hospital in Hertfordshire.

Balfour Beatty is a leading international infrastructure group. With 36,000 employees, we provide innovative and efficient infrastructure that underpins our daily lives, supports communities and enables economic growth.

We finance, develop, build and maintain complex infrastructure such as transportation, power and utility systems, social and commercial buildings.

Our main geographies are the UK, US, Middle East and South East Asia. Over the last 100 years we have created iconic buildings and infrastructure all over the world including the London Olympics’ Aquatic Centre, Hong Kong’s first Zero Carbon building, the world’s biggest shopping mall in Dubai, the National Museum of the Marine Corps in the US and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.

 

InfraRed Capital Partners

The Investment Adviser to HICL Infrastructure Company Limited is InfraRed Capital Partners Limited ("InfraRed"), which has successfully invested in over 160 infrastructure projects since 1997. InfraRed is a leading global investment manager focused on infrastructure and real estate. It operates worldwide from offices in London, Hong Kong, New York, Paris, Seoul and Sydney. With over 120 professionals it manages in excess of USD 9bn of equity capital in multiple private and listed funds, primarily for institutional investors across the globe. InfraRed is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

The infrastructure investment team at InfraRed consists of over 50 investment professionals, all with an infrastructure investment background and a broad range of relevant skills, including private equity, structured finance, construction, renewable energy and facilities management.

For further information on InfraRed Capital Partners, please refer to www.ircp.com

 

HICL Infrastructure Company Limited

HICL Infrastructure Company Limited is a long term equity investor in infrastructure projects which are predominantly in their operating phase and yielding steady returns. It was the first infrastructure investment company to be listed on the London Stock Exchange. With a current portfolio of 102 social and transportation infrastructure investments with predominantly availability-based income streams, it is seeking further suitable investment opportunities which fit its stated Investment Strategy.

For further information on HICL Infrastructure Company Limited please refer to www.hicl.com