Developer, Assura Group, has signed a contract to provide a new 35,500sq ft health centre in Suffolk.
The company will act as both investor and developer, with the project scheduled to start on site later in spring this year. It is due to be completed by the summer of 2014.
The £8m integrated health centre will be built on a 3.5-acre site in Church Field Road in Sudbury and will see the services currently provided by Walnuttree Hospital, Acton Lane Clinic, St Leonard’s and Siam GP practice consolidated under one roof. There will also be other services including outpatient clinics, dental, podiatry, diagnostics, therapies, counselling and community nursing.
Simon Gould, development manager at Assura Group, said: “We’re delighted to be officially starting work on this project, which looks set to be one of the largest within the Assura Group portfolio. There has been a huge amount of effort from many people to reach this milestone and we are confident that the development will significantly improve the standard of primary healthcare for the local community and look forward to starting on site in a few weeks.”
Mark Marshall, head of corporate development and infrastructure at NHS Suffolk, added: “The new health centre has been designed to meet the needs of the community and as a result will make a huge difference to the service we can provide patients. Now that contracts have been signed we’re excited to see the first spade in the ground and the designs become a reality.”
The centre has been designed by Murphy Philipps Architecture and will be constructed by Galliford Try.
A spokesman for Murphy Philipps Architecture said: “The concept for the design of the primary care centre is to create a compact building based around a simple spine with wings that provide flexible access and layout options. The spine is the organisational feature of the design with the wings subordinate to this. The building disposition reflects our belief that as a prominent public facility, the primary care centre should be visible and of high quality.”
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