A private hospital company has awarded the contract to build a £1.5 million specialist sterilisation facility to a northwest firm.

Developers B and E Boys will build to stringent guidelines to construct the facility at Roman Road industrial estate in Preston.

The firm's contracts director told the Manchester Evening News the company had experience in this kind of new-build in the past.

Neil Conlon said: "We know exactly what is required."

When the 9,500 sq ft hub is finished it will serve Ramsay's hospitals in Salford, Ormskirk, Kendal, Chorley and Fulwood.

It will include purified water and a 3,000 sq ft boiler room to ensure the facility achieves the right temperatures for optimum sanitisation.

Ramsay project manager Colin Rea said: "The safe sterilisation of theatre instruments is vital, but it is a complex process."

Airflow and power have to be monitored and there needs to be a specific amount of space for cleaning, he added.

B and E Boys is a family-run firm from Rossendale that now has 100 employees.