A law firm from the region has been chosen to help oversee the creation of a £74m mental health centre in the region.

Ward Hadaway, in Newcastle, is advising the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust on replacing the 102-year-old St Luke's Hospital, Middlesbrough.

Work is expected to get under way on the 312-bed hospital later this year, with John Laing Social Infrastructure chosen as the preferred bidder for the project, next to the current hospital in Marton Road in Middlesbrough.

Melanie Pears, head of public sector at Ward Hadaway, said: "We were delighted to be chosen to advise on this pioneering project, which aims to provide a template for future public-private partnership schemes.

"The project has involved a lot of detailed and complex negotiations between the strategic health authority, the Department of Health and a number of funders and advisors to get to the stage we are at now.

"Hopefully, this will all secure better value for money for the public purse as well as much-improved facilities for the people of the North-East."

The contract marks the latest in a series of public sector successes for Ward Hadaway this year, which is now advising on £2bn-worth of projects.

The firm won the contract in March to provide external legal services for five local authorities on Teesside and was last month appointed external legal services provider for the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.