The team will be headed by Simon Kydd, currently head of healthcare at WSP. Simon takes up his new role as head of healthcare from 1 September 2021. He will be joined by Bonnie Chu as healthcare design director and Scott Machin as healthcare bid manager.

A framework manager will be announced soon to join the team, which will report to group public sector director Steve Beechey.

Recently completed projects in the healthcare sector include the £79.9 million renovation of the headquarters of the Royal College of Surgeons in London; a 72-bed mental health facility, Foss Park Hospital, for Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust; world-leading clinical facilities at the Quadram Institute in Norwich; and a 176-bed Intensive Care Unit for the Royal London Hospital, completed last year in just five weeks during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic for St Barts NHS Hospital Trust.

With its unique integrated offer, combining the engineering expertise of its Coventry-based offsite manufacturing facility, Prism, with its construction, property management and refurbishment businesses, Wates is focused on addressing some of the key challenges facing the healthcare sector. These include meeting carbon reduction targets, upgrading ageing parts of the NHS estate and providing healthcare facilities to help clinicians deliver improved outcomes for patients.

Paul Chandler, executive managing director, Wates Construction Group, said: “Today’s announcement represents a major investment in the future for Wates, and I am particularly pleased that someone of Simon’s calibre has joined us to help lead our efforts to build on our presence in the healthcare sector.

“The expertise and experience of our senior healthcare team, all with significant experience of delivering complex healthcare facilities, combined with the group’s industry-leading construction, engineering and fit-out capabilities, means Wates now has the capabilities to be one of the market’s leading providers of complex primary healthcare projects.”

Simon Kydd, Head of Healthcare, Wates Group, said: “As the healthcare sector moves to deliver the New Hospitals Programme, and learns from the response to the pandemic, I am excited to be joining a company whose values so closely align with my own, delivering an end-to-end service that considers outcome and quality of space for the end user from day one. As Wates expands its healthcare offering, leveraging its pioneering approaches to modern methods of construction and net zero carbon, I know we can be a market leader within the sector and offer genuine value to the NHS.”