The Nightingale hospitals created in record time at the start of the pandemic are to be permanently closed from next month, the NHS has announced.

Seven emergency intensive care units were created across England last year, with the first opening at the ExCel exhibition centre in east London in April, after less than a fortnight’s work. Similar facilities were created in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to cope with a projected tidal wave of covid patients.

They were hailed as a remarkable example of what the construction industry could achieve when everyone pulled together. BDP led the conversion of the London Nightingale and was also behind many of the others, along with Stride Treglown and a long list of other firms.

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