Getting RAAC Procurement Right at Mid Cheshire Hospitals
Single expert supplier appointed with significant savings and improved performance
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (MCHFT) provides healthcare to approximately 300,000 people across Cheshire. Leighton Hospital is one of just seven hospitals in the country built wholly or mostly from RAAC. Now 50 years old, it has long exceeded the 30-year lifespan of the material, with stabilising and remedial works costing over £55m to date.
The Trust needed a single, expert provider to lead its long-term RAAC risk mitigation programme, managing inspections, structural engineering, and remedial design, reducing duplication, improving coordination, and creating a unified data environment.
The procurement had to balance several competing pressures simultaneously. Safety and compliance came first. Transparency and governance were non-negotiable. And the Trust needed to demonstrate efficiency and value for money.
EcoVate partnered with MCHFT to design and deliver a structured, end-to-end procurement using the NHS SBS HPCCAS Framework. A Capability Assessment was issued first, requiring framework suppliers to evidence comparable RAAC experience. EcoVate managed all supplier queries and clarifications, ensuring a comprehensive audit trail throughout.
A single expert supplier was appointed, delivering the one-stop-shop model the Trust had sought. All RAAC surveys are now aligned with IStructE guidance and integrated within the Trust’s BIS platform. The appointed supplier is meeting all KPIs with significant savings.
“The team at EcoVate are exceptional, very knowledgeable, extremely helpful and easy to work with. This was a particularly important and complex procurement exercise for the Trust, and one that had potential for challenge from previous incumbents. From the moment the Trust provided the brief, EcoVate understood the requirement and the best way of achieving the result without risk of challenge. EcoVate enabled us to secure a very successful outcome, with a new consultant appointed who is delivering to all of the KPIs. We would wholeheartedly recommend EcoVate for future procurement services.”
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