2017, the project was running more than a year late due to problems caused by asbestos, cracking concrete and bad weather, and further delays were announced in early January 2018. Less than a fortnight later, on 15 January 2018, Carillion went into liquidation, partly due to its problems with the hospital contract, and delaying the project still further, with the hospital unlikely to be finished in 2018. On 26 March 2018, it was reported that the project had been costing £53.9m more than Carillion had officially reported. In September, the NHS Trust revealed that the cost of rectifying serious faults, including replacing non-compliant cladding installed by Carillion, was holding up plans to restart and finish the £350m project; with the project further delayed, the Trust was considering invoking a break clause to terminate the PFI contract. On 24 September 2018, it was reported that the government would step in to terminate the PFI deal, taking the hospital into full public ownership, meaning a £180m loss for private sector lenders Legal & General and the European Investment Bank. This was confirmed on 26 September 2018, with completion of the hospital in 2020 likely to cost an additional £120m, due to unforeseen issues left behind by Carillion. Construction work was expected to resume in November 2018. On 25 October 2018 Laing O'Rourke was confirmed as the contractor to complete the project, but, a month later, with the contractor not prepared to take any risk, Mace was also appointed to help manage risks associated with the £350m scheme. In April 2019, the project was reported to be facing further delays due to subcontractors' reluctance to work on the scheme, while further defects were detected in May 2019, with rectification also likely to delay completion and increase costs. On 17 December 2019, hospital CEO Steve Warburton confirmed the project had been further delayed until at least 2022 and that patients and staff would be at the existing hospital for the next three winters. In addition to £285m already spent, Warburton said completion would cost £300m, including costs to replace an aluminium composite cladding system, which, since the Grenfell Tower fire, was known to breach building regulations. In March 2020, the hospital NHS Trust revealed it was drawing up claims against Carillion's insurers and a Carillion subcontractor Heyrod Construction. In June 2020, the Portuguese manufacturer of the cladding was drafted in to remove it. A