Kier scoops £30m mortuary job

Kier has been awarded a contract to build a new two-storey mortuary in Aberdeen by spring 2024.

The work – worth £30m – will include building post-mortem and body-storage rooms, an office for Police Scotland and a teaching and museum area.

The facilities, which will be located on a site at the Foresterhill Health Campus, will also feature more than 600 square metres of solar panels, and the mortuary will be insulated to minimise heat loss and ventilation.

The mortuary’s heating, lighting and hot-water systems will also be “highly efficient”, according to Kier. In addition, it will be fitted with CT scanners and X-ray machines.

As part of the contract with Aberdeen City Council and NHS Grampian, Kier committed to reaching targets on job creation, upskilling opportunities and educational engagement activities linked to the local community.

Kier Regional Building North & Scotland director Phil McDowell said the project will provide a “much-needed facility” to the community.

“It is important that in such difficult times, those that have lost a loved one have access to the best local amenities they deserve,” he added.

NHS Grampian executive director of infrastructure and sustainability Paul Allen said: “It is a considerable accomplishment for the design to have been taken forward through this historically unusual period. The team is pleased with the development and to be working on such a complex, multifunctional and multiagency project.”