HEALTH Secretary Andrew Lansley declared the new Royal Liverpool Hospital will be an important place for economic growth when he visited the site yesterday.

Mr Lansley was in Liverpool just one week after it was announced that the £451m project had been taken off the government’s spending cuts hit list.

After meeting senior officials at the hospital to discuss plans for the rebuild, he told the Daily Post: “This was a project which was viable and it was a necessity from the point of view of the NHS trust.

“If they did not have a new building, the only alternative was to have a major refurbishment, which would have been immensely disruptive and time-consuming.

“Looking at the projects which had been approved since the start of the year, we had to see which were value for money and needed to go ahead.

“This hospital is clearly one which can make economic growth and this is an opportunity to go beyond what is currently here.

“The Royal Liverpool Hospital is a place where we can have leading science along with leading engineering and that is important for economic growth.”

Tony Bell, Royal chief executive, added: “We were delighted to welcome the Secretary of State to the Royal and to talk to him about our plans for the new hospital, which he confirmed last week.

“The new Royal will be a great boost for the city’s vision, providing not only a world-class hospital but a biocampus which will bring together academia, industry and healthcare into a major health science research hub.”