The Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which operates five hospitals across west London including Charing Cross, Hammersmith, and St Mary’s, has reportedly paid up to £34 million to settle a protracted dispute with an asset management company over an unused hospital building. This comes amidst mounting financial pressures on the trust, which is also facing delays in crucial hospital redevelopment plans.

The dispute centres on the former Ravenscourt Park Hospital, a Grade II-listed Art Deco building originally opened as the Royal Masonic Hospital in 1933. The hospital ceased operations in 2006 due to financial difficulties and low patient numbers, with services transferred to other local hospitals within the trust, including Charing Cross and St Mary’s. Despite its closure, the NHS Trust remained responsible for leasing and maintaining the building, incurring substantial costs estimated at up to £5 million annually, which included maintenance, security, and rent payments until the lease expired in 2017.

In 2002, the trust’s predecessor committed to a 15-year lease for the building intended to house NHS services, which ultimately never materialised. Later, in 2015, plans were announced by VPS Healthcare, an Abu Dhabi-based company, to reopen the site as a private cancer hospital featuring advanced treatments such as proton beam therapy. However, the project stalled and the company was dissolved in 2018, leaving the trust with a £15 million debt.

Following the lease’s expiry, the trust faced liabilities related to the building’s dilapidation. There was a significant disagreement over the cost of repairs, with the former owner initially claiming up to £50 million, while the trust estimated its liability at around £20 million. Ownership of the debt eventually passed to ICG-Longbow, an asset management firm based in Guernsey, with whom the trust has now reached a final settlement, though the exact amount remains confidential due to commercial sensitivity.

The settlement amount, despite remaining undisclosed officially, is understood to be more than double the £19.4 million government funding the trust secured in 2024 to support rebuilding efforts at St Mary’s Hospital — a major acute trauma centre and world-renowned teaching hospital. This funding is earmarked for detailed design and planning work on the new hospital building, which itself has faced delays announced by the Health Secretary, pushing back the hospital’s redevelopment within the trust’s estates programme by at least ten years.

The Trust’s 2024/25 annual report reflects a significant reduction in provisions for liabilities related to leased property disputes, underscoring the impact of the Ravenscourt Park settlement. While the released report states that the reduction in provisions is not fully attributable to this case alone, it represents a substantial financial adjustment. The Trust's leadership emphasised their confidence in having secured the best possible outcome for both the organisation and the NHS with legal and professional advice guiding their negotiations.

Meanwhile, the Ravenscourt Park Hospital site is now being transformed into residential housing and a care home. Planning permission was granted in August 2025 for 140 new homes and a 65-bed care home on the 1.56-hectare site, with developers committed to preserving the building’s distinctive Art Deco architecture and integrating community spaces into the scheme. The site’s redevelopment is seen as a positive step towards converting a once-vacant and costly asset into productive use.

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, created in 2007 from the merger of Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust and St Mary’s NHS Trust, is one of England’s largest healthcare providers, integrating clinical services with academic research in partnership with Imperial College London. The trust’s financial strains and building maintenance challenges exemplify the difficulties faced by NHS organisations seeking to maintain and modernise ageing infrastructure while managing complex legacy issues from past property arrangements.

The magnitude of funds allocated to settle this longstanding property dispute highlights the broader issues of NHS estate management, funding constraints, and the balancing act of investing in future hospital infrastructure amid ongoing operational demands.

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Source: Noah Wire Services