New hospital development to bring jobs and training in Leeds

A Leeds health trust is to reach out to areas around its new hospital development by sharing training and job opportunities through a social initiative that begins next year.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust will work closely with its design and construction partners to support social value initiatives for those with the greatest barriers to training, skills and employment opportunities.

The initiative includes apprenticeship programmes, school engagement events, and work experience opportunities - targeted at areas surrounding the new hospitals’ development as well as some of the city’s most deprived neighbourhoods.

Among the design and construction partners who will be involved in the initiative are contractors WSP, Arcadis, Ove Arup & partners, Mott MacDonald, MJ Medical, and the Trust’s appointed architects the Perkins and Will team.

Arige Hallug, project manager for Arcadis, said: “The project acts as an enabler for health innovation in Leeds and aims to reduce health inequities through new infrastructure and social value initiatives.

“We recognise this as a powerful opportunity to change the health landscape in Leeds, and Arcadis are proud to work alongside the Trust and their suppliers to make a meaningful impact in the community.”

The new Leeds hospitals’ scheme is among 40 new hospitals the Government has committed to build by 2030. These outstanding new facilities will benefit not just patients in Leeds, but also those from across the Yorkshire and Humber region, and, in some cases, even further afield.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is continuing to work with and support the New Hospitals Programme (NHP) team at NHSE as part of the process to finalise its recently launched design concepts - with the new facilities planned to be fully operational in 2027.