The University Clinic of Schleswig-Holstein (UC S-H) has commissioned a consortium of bidders, including Siemens, Bilfinger Berger and HSG Technischer Service, with the construction and operation of the first particle therapy center (PTC) in Northern Germany. With overall costs of approximately 250 million euros, this represents the largest public private partnership project (PPP) ever launched in the German healthcare sector.

(Read the DOTmed Business News special report on Proton Therapy in our February 2008 issue, www.dotmed.com/news/story/5375.)

As a competence center for tumor diseases, the PTC will be opening up new treatment possibilities for cancer therapy starting in 2012. In addition to Northern Germany, the center is intended to serve the entire Southern Scandinavian region. In its final stage of completion, the facility's three treatment rooms will be capable of treating approximately 3,000 patients with particles per year.
The contract concluded between the consortium of bidders and the UC S-H includes the financing, construction, technical operation, and maintenance of the particle therapy facility in a public private partnership over a period of 25 years. To implement this project, the sponsors, Siemens Project Ventures and Bilfinger Berger Project Investments, established a project company which will be refinanced via an international group of banks. In addition to the facilities for applying particle therapy (PT), the PTC will also include a department for conventional radiation therapy. Conventional radiation therapy is planned to begin at the end of 2011, and the PT facility should be started up at the beginning of 2012.

"The Kiel PTC represents a milestone for medical engineering solutions and partnership models in oncology. The Competence Center for Radiotherapeutic Oncology in Kiel will set the trend for additional particle therapy centers in Europe and the United States," said Prof. Dr. Erich R. Reinhardt, CEO of the Siemens Healthcare Sector.

Siemens will perform the planning and construction of the particle therapy system, supply medical engineering services for medical diagnostics to information technology and carry out the technical service and operation of the medical engineering systems. Bilfinger Berger Hochbau will be responsible for the turnkey construction of the center. The Hamburg branch will complete the building with four aboveground stories and two underground stories within 24 months. For this project, Bilfinger Berger can rely on their expertise gained with projects for the healthcare sector. HSG will be responsible for the technical and infrastructural building management, including maintenance and reinvestment of the technical and structural facilities and the outdoor area. Furthermore, HSG will ensure the required power, heat, and water quantities for the building with the exception of the medical facilities. In cooperation with Bilfinger Berger Project Investments, Siemens will also bring its expertise in infrastructure projects into the partnership via the Siemens Project Ventures GmbH (SPV). SPV and Bilfinger Berger Project Investment will each contribute 50 percent of the required equity capital.

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