Work to enable the demolition of vacant parts of the current hospital in Berwick is to begin this month and will enable the construction of the new development on the northern end of the site to begin in the Summer.

The £30m revenue firm is expanding factory capacity and recruiting to supplement its 160-strong team to help deliver the new hospital.

The project will be almost double the existing hospital space, providing a total of 110,000 sq ft of floorspace over two storeys.

A large part of the construction work will be undertaken offsite in the Merit factory in Cramlington.

Merit managing director, Tony Wells, said: “Merit recently launched a new division, Merit Health, to provide healthcare providers and patients with next-generation hospital facilities.

“We have collaborated with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Northumbria Healthcare Facilities Management to develop a design that is zero carbon emissions, has built-in infection control and is technically enabled for the future of health care.”