Construction and civil engineering firm Veidekke has been awarded a contract, worth NOK685m ($79.9m), by health trust Helse Førde (HF) to build a hospital in Førde, the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway.

Following an interaction phase of about a year, the two parties have developed the hospital project, named Livabygget.

With an area of more than 13,000m2, the eight-storey Livabygget project is claimed to be space- and cost-effective.

In order to link the Livabygget building to the current central building, Veidekke will rehabilitate around 2,000m2 in the current central building.

Veidekke Bygg Sogn og Fjordane district manager Rune Karlsen said: “In the interaction phase we have had thorough and good dialogue with the project organisation in Helse Førde, the building’s users and our partners.

“Great efforts have been made to ensure that this will be a state-of-the-art regional hospital for the benefit of patients throughout the region and the employees.”

The new building will feature women’s clinic with four new delivery rooms, a new ward for maternity and post-natal care and a new department for children, among others.

Additionally, the building will comprise several new, advanced specialist rooms, a new observation unit, a new surgical department with eight operating theatres, and a new post-operative ward.

Veidekke plans to start groundworks at the site after Easter 2021. The building is scheduled to open in the spring of 2024.

The project forms part of the extensive modernisation work currently underway at the Førde Central Hospital.

Earlier this year, Veidekke said it would start construction of a new residential project in Stockholm's first massive wood residential area, Cederhusen, in Sweden.

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Illustration of the Livabygget hospital in Norway. Credit: Veidekke ASA.