Balfour Beatty has reached financial close for the £46 million (US$78 million) NHS Ayrshire & Arran Acute Mental Health and Community Development PPP project in Scotland.

The project is being funded using the Scottish Government's Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) Model which caps returns for private investors. The project has been the fastest NPD project of the current tranche of NPD projects to achieve financial close.

The project will be developed on a design, build, finance, operation and maintenance (DBFOM) basis for a period of 25 years. Construction work will commence in July 2014, with the new facility expected to be operational in summer 2016.

The facility, located on a 6.5 hectare site at Ayrshire Central Hospital in Irvine, Scotland, will provide 206 single en-suite bedrooms for people and facilities will include adult acute mental health care, mental health and addiction rehabilitation, long-term care and rehabilitation for older people and outpatient clinics and treatments.The project includes a primarily single storey building, covering a total floor area of circa 16,000m2.

Derek Lindsay, NHS Ayrshire & Arran's Director for Finance and Senior Responsible Officer for the project, stated:

Having the right facilities in the right place is important to the people of Ayrshire and Arran so I am delighted work will start next month. During the process of reaching financial close we have worked closely with Balfour Beatty and we are confident that together we will deliver the best facility possible.

Stephen Gordon, Balfour Beatty Investments' Scotland Director, stated:

We are delighted to bring this project to financial close, enabling construction to get underway. Balfour Beatty has extensive experience in the PPP health sector and we look forward to working with NHS Ayrshire & Arran to provide a high-quality healthcare facility for the local community.