HEALTHCARE
BOLD MEDICAL CENTRE DESIGN FOR A NEW ERA Work has completed on a new £5.5m medical centre in St Leonards, Hastings. The three-storey 20,000ft2 building houses two GP surgeries and a pharmacy in Bexhill Road next to West St Leonards Community Centre. It was designed by Liverpool-headquartered architect firm Brock Carmichael as a strikingly modern building, part of a vision by funder Assura for the 2030 health and wellbeing centre of the future. Medical Centre now acts as a modern health hub S tforLeonards up to 20,000 patients in the south west area of Hastings. It houses the Carisbrooke Surgery, previously operating from portacabins, and the High Glades Medical Centre on Bexhill Road and provides on-site parking for patients’ use. As a health hub, it is able to facilitate services currently given by other providers more locally as well as easing pressure on the local hospital. Over the past few years, West St Leonards had to cope with the closure of two surgeries, South Saxon and Essenden Road, with patients having to travel further to access healthcare. The need for this development was very clear. The building – funded and acquired by Warrington-based specialist primary care investor, Assura – was delivered by Till Developments and constructed by locally-based Westridge Construction working closely with Brock Carmichael. It was designed to BREEAM ‘Excellent’ with rooftop HVAC plantroom, 26 consulting rooms, two GP surgeries, pharmacy, six treatment rooms and a Skype-enabled consulting and training suite. Construction commenced in August 2019 and continued through the pandemic. Westridge Construction put site management measures in place to reduce all opportunity for social contact on site to continue construction, despite the challenges of coronavirus, in line with Government advice, HSE and CIC guidance. Construction was completed both on time and to budget.
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Senior Partner at Carisbrook Surgery, Nick MacCarthy, said: “The new building is vital for our patients, which opens at a time when the role of primary care and health services in the community has never been more important.” Senior Development Manager at Assura, Ashley Seymour, said: “We are delighted to have helped this important primary care centre come to fruition and really pleased with the team who have managed to deliver it on time, despite the pandemic. We are confident that the new facility will transform healthcare provision in this area and have a positive long-term impact on the community.”
Assura’s CEO, Jonathan Murphy, added: “Our mission is to try to create places – buildings and exterior environments – which move forward from the sense of a patient waiting for something to happen to them. Having primary care in the right place in the health ecosystem – literally and metaphorically – is where that shift can happen. Infrastructure could be truly transformational for the NHS.” He continued: “The Health Infrastructure Plan was launched by the Government in 2019 with the pledge of £850m for hospital maintenance and upgrades to acute facilities. Since then, the operating environment for all of the NHS’ buildings has changed dramatically. Where last year,
