NHS Lothian has announced that, after a detailed evaluation process, three consortia have been shortlisted to move into the next phase for the development of the Edinburgh's Royal Hospital for Sick Children and the Department of Clinical Neurosciences.

On Monday 11 March, the shortlisted consortia were announced:

• Mosaic - Laing O'Rourke Construction (construction) and Keppie Design and Hassell Limited (architects)
• B3 - BAM Construction and Balfour Beatty Construction (construction) and Building Design Partnership (architects)
• Integrated Healthcare Solutions Lothian - Brookfield Multiplex Construction Europe (construction) and HLMAD (architects)

The project will see services from the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, currently based at the Western General Hospital, and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service from the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, brought together in a high quality, modern facility next to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh at Little France.

The three bidders have been formally invited to participate in the competitive dialogue stage of the project. During this period, they will each develop detailed designs and commercial terms in response to NHS Lothian's reference design and comprehensive statement of requirements.

This dialogue process is expected to last around a year with the selection of a preferred bidder in spring 2014. The successful bidder will then finalise the design for the new building, with work starting on site in the autumn of that year. The hospital is expected to become operational in the summer of 2017.

NHS Lothian advertised the project on the Public Contracts Scotland website and in the Official Journal of the European Union in December 2012.