OFF-SITE construction specialist Yorkon has won £8m of contracts in the health sector.

The company, which is based in York, has been appointed to work on hospital projects in Teesside, Walsall and Guernsey.

The biggest of the three contracts, worth £5m, will see Yorkon manufacture and fit out a 136-bed ward building at Walsall Manor Hospital.

The project forms part of the £170m redevelopment of the hospital to be completed under a Private Finance Initiative, replacing outdated buildings. The four-storey ward will comprise 104 steel-framed building modules manufactured off-site in York and moved into position in three phases.

Yorkon has also been awarded a £2.6m contract by Interserve, for the off-site construction of a 42-bed emergency assessment unit at the University Hospital of North Tees, in Stockton.

Scheduled for completion in October, the single-storey extension to the department will increase the number of assessment beds on the Stockton site and is part of the Government's drive to reduce waiting times for emergency cases.

The building will provide six high-dependency beds, four-bed wards and en suite single rooms, one isolation bed, dirty and clean utilities, waiting areas, quiet room, kitchen, staff changing facilities, consulting rooms, nurse base stations and ward manager's office.

The third contract is to provide an MRI suite at Princess Elizabeth Hospital, near St Peter Port, on Guernsey. The project for the Avenue Building Company, is Yorkon's third for the contractor.

The use of off-site construction for each of these new healthcare schemes will minimise disruption to patient care during the build programme and will reduce completion time by up to 50 per cent, allowing earlier occupation and treatment provision.

Other benefits include enhanced thermal performance, lower running costs, reductions in carbon emissions, and time and cost being more predictable.