Sypro Supports Smooth NEC Delivery on £150m Clinical Buildings at Luton & Dunstable Hospital
NEC4 Healthcare Case Study: NEC Contract Management on £150m Hospital Project
Luton & Dunstable University Hospital’s major clinical buildings project involved the delivery of modern, state-of-the-art facilities spanning five storeys and 16,700m², including maternity, neonatal, theatres, and critical care spaces. All works were completed within a highly constrained, live hospital environment, requiring meticulous planning and risk management.
To ensure clarity, control and collaborative delivery, Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust deployed Sypro’s construction contract management software. Our tool supported proactive communication and robust contractual oversight throughout the project.
Challenges
Delivering a major healthcare facility immediately adjacent to fully operational clinical buildings presented significant logistical challenges. Minimising disruption to ongoing healthcare services was a top priority, and careful coordination was required between the construction and hospital teams. The project’s success depended on close collaboration between Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Kier Construction and other key stakeholders, ensuring that clinical, estates and contractor teams were fully aligned throughout the process.
Additionally, the NEC4 contract framework introduced a high level of procedural and communication rigour, requiring structured management of early warnings, formal notices and contractual changes to maintain clarity and control over the programme.
How Sypro Supported NEC Delivery
Over the three-year construction period, Sypro played a central role in ensuring contractual clarity, proactive risk management, and compliance with NEC contract management.
The software tracked 1,889 project communications between client, project manager and contractor teams, and facilitated the management of 186 early warning notices, allowing the project team to address risks before they impacted delivery.
By centralising all communications and notices in a single platform accessible from any device, Sypro ensured that the principles of collaboration, early risk management and efficiency, which underpin NEC contracts, were consistently applied. This significantly reduced administrative workload and eliminated informal communication channels, giving the Trust confidence in their contractual position while strengthening the working relationship with Kier.
Kyle McClelland, Redevelopment Project Director at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, commented: “Sypro has been instrumental in ensuring contractual clarity and commercial control on our largest clinical buildings project. Their structured approach to NEC communications, with all notices routed through a single source, eliminated informal channels and significantly reduced administrative workload. The visibility they provided, accessible across the team from any device, gave us confidence in our contractual position and improved our ability to manage change proactively. NEC is a great contract, but inherently rigorous; Sypro makes it easier to administer and, importantly, helps strengthen our relationship with the contractor.”
Working with Bedfordshire Hospitals
NHS Foundation Trust
For over 15 years, Sypro has partnered with Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. This long-standing collaboration has streamlined communication, reduced administrative burden, and ensured proactive risk management across complex NEC4 healthcare projects.
- First project began in 2010
- 26 healthcare projects delivered, all under NEC contracts
- 364 users onboarded
- Collaboration with 10 partner organisations
Improving NEC Contract Management and Risk Control
Like Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS FT, Kier Construction also relies on Sypro to manage NEC4 contracts and protect against commercial risk across all its healthcare projects.
Matthew Davis, Project Director at Kier Construction, said: “Delivering a major clinical facility right next to operational hospital services is always challenging. Using Sypro allowed our teams to maintain clear communication with the Trust, respond promptly to early warnings and keep NEC contractual processes fully on track. The system’s visibility and structured approach meant that everyone was working from the same information, which reduced delays, minimised risk and helped us deliver the project safely and efficiently.”
Simon Hunt, Strategic Account Director at Sypro, added: “Sypro’s long-standing partnership with Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spans over 15 years and 26 projects, consistently streamlining communication, reducing administrative overhead and enabling proactive risk management on complex NEC4 healthcare programmes. Combined with our ongoing collaboration with Kier Construction, it makes completing this project all the more rewarding and something everyone at Sypro is immensely proud of.”
The new hospital facilities opened successfully in August 2024.
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