Willmott Dixon expands NHS construction portfolio

By Danny BallPublished On: September 25th, 2026Categories: News, Top Stories

Willmott Dixon is delivering a series of NHS estate projects across acute hospitals and community healthcare settings, including a £140m Emergency Care Building at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth and a new Women and Children’s Hospital in Truro.

The contractor is due to showcase its healthcare work at Healthcare Estates 2026 at Manchester Central on 13th–14th October, including its involvement in the Hospital 2.0 Alliance.

£140m Derriford emergency care building tops out

At Derriford Hospital, Willmott Dixon is constructing the £140m Emergency Care Building for University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust.

The four-storey building was the first Wave 1 scheme under the New Hospital Programme to enter main construction, starting in October 2025. It topped out in September 2026.

The new facility will almost double the capacity of the existing emergency department and will include a Same Day Emergency Care unit, four interventional radiology theatres and five surgical theatres.

Construction is taking place alongside the existing emergency department, which will remain operational throughout the works.

The project is also among the first to implement the NHS Net Zero Building Standard. The use of concrete containing 55% GGBS in the frame has been calculated to save 1,625 tonnes of carbon.

Willmott Dixon has also signed its Hospital 2.0 Alliance contract to deliver a new Women and Children’s Hospital for Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust in Truro.

The facility will bring maternity, neonatal, paediatric and gynaecology services together in a purpose-built building.

Anastasia Chrysafi, Healthcare & NHP Alliance Lead at Willmott Dixon, said: “Trusts don’t need another contractor promising to transform their estate.

“They need partners who have already done the hard part. Derriford shows what the New Hospital Programme looks like when it moves from plan to site, and everything we are learning there is going straight into Truro.

“That’s the evidence we want to share in Manchester, whether a trust is planning a major acute scheme or its first neighbourhood health centre.”

Contractor targets neighbourhood healthcare delivery

Willmott Dixon has delivered more than 30 community health centres over the past two decades, including 16 through the NHS LIFT programme.

Projects include the Heart of Hounslow Centre for Health, the Tessa Jowell Health Centre in Dulwich, Chiswick Health Centre and Grove View Integrated Health & Care Hub in Dunstable.

Weybridge Health Campus, being delivered for NHS Property Services, is currently under construction.

The contractor is also using its Cura neighbourhood healthcare platform, which uses a kit-of-parts approach and off-site manufactured components designed to comply with Health Building Notes and Health Technical Memoranda.

Willmott Dixon’s Development Solutions team works alongside the platform to support NHS bodies and local authorities with land, funding and business cases.

At Healthcare Estates, the contractor will host a roundtable examining funding, partnerships and delivery models for neighbourhood health centres, with representatives from NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care and industry partners.

Willmott Dixon healthcare portfolio spans new build and refurbishment

Willmott Dixon is sponsoring the New Build Project of the Year category at the Healthcare Estates Awards.

The Acute Medical Unit at Royal Sussex County Hospital, delivered by Willmott Dixon Interiors, has also been shortlisted for Refurbishment of the Year.

The contractor said it has delivered more than 100 healthcare projects over the past decade across acute, mental health, community and neighbourhood settings, with most delivered in live clinical environments.

Willmott Dixon will exhibit at Healthcare Estates 2026 on Stand E40 at Manchester Central on 13–14 October.