{"id":538043,"date":"2026-02-12T12:45:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T12:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?p=538043"},"modified":"2026-02-12T09:32:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T09:32:22","slug":"hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospital project in limbo three months after Merit collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Merit job to build hospital facilities in York is at a standstill, three months after the contractor called in administrators.<\/p>\n

The \u00a38m job to build a two-storey facility at York Hospital (pictured), including a new surgical theatre and MRI suite, went silent when Merit appointed administrators in November<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Merit Holdings was appointed last August to build the site, which the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said would \u201cdeliver high-quality treatment in a purpose-built environment, tailored to meet the needs of the local community\u201d.<\/p>\n

The trust also said using a modular solution for the project meant the project would take a third of the time compared with traditional building techniques.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the trust confirmed to Construction News <\/em>that work on the hospital project had stopped, adding that it was \u201c currently considering its procurement options\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The trust also] continues to work with [Merit Holdings\u2019] administrators,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project is in delay, but we remain committed to deliver a high-quality facility for patients in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u00a386m-turnover firm blamed a winding-up petition by HMRC for its demise, saying\u00a0 the petition \u201cresulted in certain customer projects experiencing delays, which in turn has placed significant additional pressure on the group\u2019s cashflow\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last month Merit\u2019s administrators revealed they were \u201cunlikely\u201d to recoup<\/a> the \u00a317.4m Merit Holdings owed to its unsecured creditors.<\/p>\n

The York Hospital site is one of several Merit jobs that have experienced problems since the contractor went under. Last month, Robertson was appointed to complete a \u00a335m job to construct<\/a> the new Berwick Community Hospital in Northumberland, following Merit\u2019s collapse.<\/p>\n

Last month, some of the directors of Merit Holdings, including managing director Tony Wells, bought the firm\u2019s assets out of administration and formed a new company<\/a>, called Merit Industrialised Construction.<\/p>\n

Merit Industrialised Construction said it did not take on the old firm\u2019s liabilities, debts or staff when it acquired it out of administration.<\/p>\n

The director of one former Merit subcontractor told CN <\/em>he was left clinging on after Merit\u2019s collapse left him<\/a> short of more than \u00a3100,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former Merit job to build hospital facilities in York is at a standstill, three months after the contractor called in administrators. The \u00a38m job to build a two-storey facility at York Hospital (pictured), including a new surgical theatre and MRI suite, went silent when Merit appointed administrators in November. Merit Holdings was appointed last …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90643,"featured_media":538058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[554,547,552],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-538043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-administrations","category-buildings","category-financial","issue-online-news"],"yoast_head":"\nHospital project in limbo three months after Merit collapse | Construction News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A former Merit job to build hospital facilities in York is at a standstill, three months after the contractor called in administrators. The \u00a38m job to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hospital project in limbo three months after Merit collapse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A former Merit job to build hospital facilities in York is at a standstill, three months after the contractor called in administrators. The \u00a38m job to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Construction News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CN.community\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-12T12:45:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/York-Hospital-Hybrid-Theatre.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"414\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joshua Stein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CNplus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CNplus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joshua Stein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Joshua Stein\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc\"},\"headline\":\"Hospital project in limbo three months after Merit collapse\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-12T12:45:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/\"},\"wordCount\":356,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/York-Hospital-Hybrid-Theatre.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Administrations\",\"Buildings\",\"Financial\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/\",\"name\":\"Hospital project in limbo three months after Merit collapse | Construction News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/York-Hospital-Hybrid-Theatre.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-12T12:45:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc\"},\"description\":\"A former Merit job to build hospital facilities in York is at a standstill, three months after the contractor called in administrators. The \u00a38m job to\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/York-Hospital-Hybrid-Theatre.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/York-Hospital-Hybrid-Theatre.webp\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hospital project in limbo three months after Merit collapse\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Construction News\",\"description\":\"Read UK Construction Industry News, Analysis, Opinion and data\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc\",\"name\":\"Joshua Stein\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/09661283414c6a1a39b5867f8375fd1a\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/389df7f699e66c778382dc9b75d0d431e05c3bcf365a0418b8e7901b77e40c4b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/389df7f699e66c778382dc9b75d0d431e05c3bcf365a0418b8e7901b77e40c4b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Joshua Stein\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/author\/joshua-stein\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hospital project in limbo three months after Merit collapse | Construction News","description":"A former Merit job to build hospital facilities in York is at a standstill, three months after the contractor called in administrators. The \u00a38m job to","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hospital project in limbo three months after Merit collapse","og_description":"A former Merit job to build hospital facilities in York is at a standstill, three months after the contractor called in administrators. The \u00a38m job to","og_url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/","og_site_name":"Construction News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CN.community","article_published_time":"2026-02-12T12:45:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/York-Hospital-Hybrid-Theatre.webp","width":620,"height":414,"type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Joshua Stein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CNplus","twitter_site":"@CNplus","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joshua Stein","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/"},"author":{"name":"Joshua Stein","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc"},"headline":"Hospital project in limbo three months after Merit collapse","datePublished":"2026-02-12T12:45:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/"},"wordCount":356,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/York-Hospital-Hybrid-Theatre.webp","articleSection":["Administrations","Buildings","Financial"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/","url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/","name":"Hospital project in limbo three months after Merit collapse | Construction News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/York-Hospital-Hybrid-Theatre.webp","datePublished":"2026-02-12T12:45:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc"},"description":"A former Merit job to build hospital facilities in York is at a standstill, three months after the contractor called in administrators. The \u00a38m job to","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/York-Hospital-Hybrid-Theatre.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/York-Hospital-Hybrid-Theatre.webp","width":1024,"height":683},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/administrations\/hospital-project-in-limbo-three-months-after-merit-collapse-12-02-2026\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hospital project in limbo three months after Merit collapse"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/","name":"Construction News","description":"Read UK Construction Industry News, Analysis, Opinion and data","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc","name":"Joshua Stein","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/09661283414c6a1a39b5867f8375fd1a","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/389df7f699e66c778382dc9b75d0d431e05c3bcf365a0418b8e7901b77e40c4b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/389df7f699e66c778382dc9b75d0d431e05c3bcf365a0418b8e7901b77e40c4b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Joshua Stein"},"url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/author\/joshua-stein\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538043"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":538061,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538043\/revisions\/538061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}