Construction problems hit £1bn cancer centre

Martin Shipton

There are serious problems relating to the quality of concrete in the construction of a £1bn cancer centre to serve south east Wales, it has emerged.

Documents published by the Velindre University NHS Trust have revealed significant concerns at the new Velindre Cancer Centre (nVCC) in Cardiff.

Trust minutes from January 2025 record that an independent tester had identified as a red issue the quality of the concrete. The minutes said Sacyr – the construction company – was aware and making plans to address the issue.

At this stage the concrete foundations of nVCC were being built. These included the concrete bunkers to shield radiation emitted from the radiotherapy machines, and concrete water tanks capable of holding up to 750,000 gallons of surface rainwater.

Then in July 2025 a Velindre Trust committee reported: “There are some repairs to be undertaken as part of the initial concrete work.” However no information was provided about the extent or seriousness of these repairs.

In September 2025, following complaints from local residents about loud construction noise out of hours, Sacyr sent out the following message: “Weight of concrete on wall pour today caused it to move out of plumb. Not a safety issue but a quality one when timber frame starts to get installed.”

The Trust has now published a report on the nVCC project from November 2025, with key points including:

* Construction activities managed by the contractor are behind schedule;

* The overall RAG [Red Amber Green] status is amber, trending towards red due to repeated slippage and reduced contingency;

* The contractor has issued three versions of the programme, each showing further delays, and the ability to recover time is diminishing as the project progresses;

* Key construction milestones, such as the ground floor slab, were completed 53 days late. The prefabricated external walls were also late, impacting the critical path;

* The contractor is implementing mitigation measures, but the risk of further slippage remains;

* Only the contractor can issue revised programmes, limiting the Trust’s ability to show knock-on effects of delays in their own reporting;

* There is frustration over lack of transparency from the contractor, but recent meetings have aimed to improve communication and collaboration.

‘Clearer narrative’

The report states: “The Sub-Committee questioned the significance of the RAG status being close to red and requested for clearer narrative in future reports to explain the risks and mitigation actions. [Trust official] Mark Trumper confirmed the risk is material and explained the loss of contingency and repeated slippage.

“ … The Sub-Committee asked about the frequency of programme revisions. Mark Trumper clarified that the contractor is not obliged to issue revised programmes at defined intervals, and the contract limits the Trust’s ability to intervene before the end date.

“The Sub-Committee expressed frustration over the contractor’s lack of transparency and reluctance to share problems early. Mark Trumper described recent meetings aimed at improving openness and collaboration, noting cultural differences and the need for relationship-building.

“The Sub-Committee asked for Mark Trumper’s confidence in the contractor’s ability to make up lost time. Mark Trumper stated that while mitigation measures are in place, the ability to recover time is diminishing and the main risk is loss of quality due to schedule pressure.”

A spokesperson for the Save the Northern Meadows campaign group, which argued against the location of the cancer centre at the site on environmental and clinical grounds, said: “This report is a damning verdict on the use of the Mutual Investment Model contract [involving a private consortium building a project and maintaining it for the public sector over a defined period] and must surely signal the end of the road for the use of any further MIM/PFI [private finance initiative] contracts in Wales.

“Just the one sentence that includes ‘the main risk is loss of quality due to schedule pressure’ must surely be the death knell of MIM and PFI contracts in Wales.”

“For the specific issue of the quality of concrete identified by Velindre Trust’s Independent Tester, does the MIM contract limit the scrutiny undertaken by Velindre Trust or anyone else? When Save the Northern Meadows put in an FOI request for the Independent Tester’s report, Velindre Trust refused the request on the grounds that the report was ‘commercially sensitive’, so effectively preventing any public scrutiny of the quality of the concrete.”

“When the 25 year maintenance contract for nVCC with a private company comes to an end, if there are any repairs subsequently needed to the concrete at nVCC who will pay for these repairs?

“A 2025 publication by the UK Public Accounts Committee highlighted how bad management of PFI contracts is leading to poor quality assets being handed back to the government, including schools and hospitals.

“The Labour Research Department reported in 2023: ‘Public authorities continue to stump up colossal charges for PFI-built projects that are often riddled with design and structural problems.

“Save the Northern Meadows calls upon Velindre Trust to release the Independent Tester’s report on concrete quality issues, redacted to preserve the anonymity of the Tester, together with information on the repairs that have been needed to the nVCC building. Have structural repairs to the concrete had to be carried out already, as well as any general remedial concrete works?

“This is important information to allow for scrutiny of the nVCC construction works by the next Senedd. It is future Welsh governments that are locked into paying millions of pounds yearly over 25 years for the maintenance of the nVCC building because of the approximately

£1bn cost of this MIM contract. In addition, once the 25 years is up, the maintenance and repairs of the nVCC building becomes the responsibility of Welsh taxpayers. Will the concrete quality issues already identified in the nVCC building result in repairs being needed later in the life of the building?

“For all of the above reasons Save the Northern Meadows calls for the end of the use of MIM and PFI contracts to construct and maintain public buildings in Wales.

“The Welsh Government failed to listen to nearly 200 cancer care specialists who advised the nVCC should be co-located with a hospital with Intensive Care and Surgical facilities. This would presumably have also had substantial cost savings. The Welsh Government also failed to take the opportunity to co-locate nVCC with the next University Hospital of Wales (UHW). One of the key reasons why UHW2 is urgently needed is because of concrete failures in the current UHW.”

Quality

A spokesman for Velindre University NHS Trust responded: “The safety and quality of the new Velindre Cancer Centre are paramount.

“Where quality concerns have arisen, they have been actively managed through the contractual and technical assurance processes, including via a third-party independent tester, that exist for precisely this purpose.

“At no stage have the issues identified compromised the structural safety of the building.

“The contractor has provided revised programmes and is implementing mitigation measures to recover time wherever possible.

“Our priority is delivering a state-of-the-art cancer centre that will deliver better outcomes through world-class cancer treatment, enhanced diagnostic capability and greater access to innovation, training and research.

“The new Velindre Cancer Centre will open in spring 2027.”