---
title: "Who recruits senior roles on the New Hospital Programme?"
description: "Lechley recruits senior roles on the New Hospital Programme: the leadership seats at the NHS trusts and the ten Hospital 2.0 Alliance contractors."
url: https://www.lechley.com/questions/who-recruits-for-the-new-hospital-programme
markdown: https://www.lechley.com/questions/who-recruits-for-the-new-hospital-programme.md
updated: 2026-11-01
author: "Scott Lechley, founder of Lechley Associates. Quantity Surveyor from 1990 to 2002, construction executive search since 2002."
---

# Who recruits senior roles on the New Hospital Programme?

The trusts, the alliance and the leadership seats between them.

**Lechley does: the New Hospital Programme is one of the programmes I recruit into most often, through retained search for the leadership seats it creates at the NHS trusts and the ten Hospital 2.0 Alliance contractors.**

Last updated 1 November 2026. By [Scott Lechley](https://www.lechley.com/about-us), founder of Lechley Associates. Quantity Surveyor from 1990 to 2002, construction executive search since 2002.

## The numbers

- **The programme:** 46 hospital schemes in the 2025 to 2026 annual report, seven open to patients, nine in construction and 13 in active development.
- **Wave 1:** 16 schemes, seven of them RAAC replacement hospitals, with main construction starting between 2025 and 2030.
- **The money:** £15bn of investment per five-year wave, an average of £3bn a year.
- **The contractors:** ten firms in the Hospital 2.0 Alliance, appointed in March 2026 to a framework of up to 12 years.
- **The start:** eleven agreements between NHS trusts and alliance contractors signed on 30 July 2026.
- **The pay:** £115,000 to £240,000 base for the senior seats on schemes above £500 million.

## In more detail

The programme has moved from one-off hospitals to one standard design, Hospital 2.0, built by a fixed group of contractors. That changes which leaders are worth most. Ten contractors and a long list of trusts are now competing for the same small group of people who have delivered a major hospital, especially phased work around a live estate, and most of them are in post, many already on a wave 1 scheme.

For a hiring business, I would plan the senior appointments for each scheme a year ahead of main construction, and look beyond healthcare for leaders who have run repeatable, standardised programmes elsewhere. For a trust appointing a programme director, often for a role it has never filled before, the brief is worth getting right first: who the leader reports to, what they can decide, and how they will work with a national team as well as a contractor.

## Read more

- [New Hospital Programme](https://www.lechley.com/programmes/new-hospital-programme): the programme, the people building it and the live hiring around it.
- [Healthcare](https://www.lechley.com/sectors/healthcare): the wider healthcare sector page.
- [Construction director salary guide 2026](https://www.lechley.com/construction-director-salary-guide): the programme-level bands.

## Common questions

### Who are the Hospital 2.0 Alliance contractors?

Ten firms appointed in March 2026 to a framework of up to 12 years: Bovis, Dragados, Integrated Health Projects (VINCI Building with Sir Robert McAlpine), John Graham, Kier, Laing O'Rourke, Morgan Sindall, Sacyr UK, Skanska and Willmott Dixon.

### What leadership roles does the programme create?

At each trust, a programme director, client-side commercial and estates leadership, and the people who hold the clinical brief. At each contractor, a framework director, then a project director, a commercial director and a pre-construction and design lead for each scheme.

### What do programme-level seats pay?

On schemes above £500 million, the senior seats sit at £115,000 to £240,000 base, with total packages of £300,000 to £425,000 and above once bonus, long-term incentives, car and pension are counted.

## Start a conversation

If you are hiring into the New Hospital Programme, or weighing a seat on it, I would welcome the chance to talk. No hard sell, no obligation.

[Book a Conversation](https://www.lechley.com/contact-us#meeting-sec)