A local law firm has been selected to provide legal advice on the $315 million redevelopment of the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

Conyers, Dill & Pearman was chosen after a "robust selection process", according to Bermuda Hospitals Board.

Venetta Symonds, deputy CEO of BHB, said: "We are very pleased to have appointed Conyers as our local legal advisers.

The current phase of the project requires a high calibre team comprising international and local advisers and BHB staff."

The redevelopment of the Island's hospital facilities as part of a public-private partnership follows a review last year which concluded that acute care space needed to be increased by 50 percent.

BHB has released an RFQ (request for qualifications) to start the process of finding a private company to develop the new hospital.

Conyers will work with Davis LLP, BHB's private-partnership legal advisor, during the selection process.

The first patients should walk through the doors of the redeveloped facilities in less than five years, with ground expected to be broken on the project late 2010.