Fusion Building Consultancy is reaping the benefits of appointing top flight directors to its board, having landed a £300,000 Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract with an Essex Hospital.

Headed up by director Gavin Stephens and our newest arrival, director Pollie Jelfs, formerly associate director at CB Richard Ellis, the PFI survey is being conducted on behalf of Broomfield Hospital and Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust.

A Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is one of most frequently used schemes to deliver and maintain public buildings and facilities. A private company, typically a consortium made up of a building firm, bank and facilities management company, are appointed to take on the day-to-day running of the building and associated services. The NHS Hospital Trust then makes an annual payment to the private company, rather like a mortgage.

Our role is to survey and assess the state of the existing building stock at Broomfield Hospital and forecast the maintenance cost for a five- and 10-year period.  Using this information Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust can then create the tender document for a PFI.

Broomfield Hospital is one of a series of successful PFI instructions gained recently, including the HMS Drake Naval base, Plymouth;, RAF Newton, Leicestershire; and student accommodation in Nottinghamshire.

Pollie said: “The Broomfield Hospital contract is a very complex and time consuming exercise, including asbestos, mechanical and electrical surveys, plus a detailed report on the condition and state of repair of the fabric of the existing buildings.

“Extreme care is required to ensure all short- and long-term issues are identified for the PFI consortium and with our wealth of experience in this sector combined with the personal hands on approach from directors, we anticipate it will be a future growth area for us.”

Malcolm McKilop, Broomfield Hospital’s Project Director added: “We are very pleased with the level of professionalism from Fusion and their broad based experience has enabled us to make realistic forecasts and present a clear picture to those involved in the PFI.”