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START ON SITE FOR STATE OF THE ART HEALTH CENTRE

P+HS Architects has successfully received planning approval and work has begun on site for the pioneering £4.5 million Wrekenton Health Resource Centre in Gateshead.
Constructed by Laing O’Rourke, the new Health Resource Centre forms a major part of the NHS Procure 21 Project for Gateshead Primary Care Trust. It is intended to enhance and broaden patient choice by providing an alternative to hospital for some services and giving patients faster and more convenient access to new models of healthcare.
The Centre will replace two existing GP practices, The Croft and the High Street Medical Centre, and the existing health centre on Springwell Road.
The scheme brings together a number of services under one roof cutting patient trips from three to one by being seen by a GP, getting a prescription from the pharmacist and seeing a podiatrist. The result of the rationalisation of three properties into one will ensure value for money for the PCT and in revenue terms will be relatively cost neutral whilst offering flexibility and sustainability for future development.
Wrekenton Health Resource Centre will offer a GP Surgery serving over 8500 patients and Community Health Services including community dental, podiatry, integrated sexual health, health and alcohol services and pharmacy. It will also provide accommodation for school nurses working in the primary and secondary schools located in the East and South of Gateshead.
P+HS Architects has designed the building to be fully accessible to all patients, staff and visitors with an environment that respects the privacy and dignity of all that use it. All spaces and rooms have been designed generically, where appropriate, to allow maximum flexibility of use and to be fully sustainable. The design reflects the latest thinking and requirements with regard to control of infection.
With a view to ensuring that a fully sustainable design solution is delivered and that the building achieves a minimum NEAT score of 70% (this is equivalent to the ‘Very Good’ category within BREEAM) there will be consideration of solar panel preheaters for domestic hot water, installation of wind catchers to facilitate natural ventilation to all possible areas and minimising the need for mechanical ventilation and extraction and potentially rainwater harvesting.
Materials, wherever possible, have been specified from sustainable sources with all insulation materials having zero ozone depletion potential. Passive solar shading, in the form of brise soleil, is designed to the southern elevation to avoid overheating of the waiting areas.
Stephen Naylor, Head of Estates for Gateshead Primary Care Trust commented; ‘The new Wrekenton Health Resource Centre will provide a faster, more efficient health service to the local community it serves and allow patients to experience state of the art facilities in a friendly, positive environment. The new centre will undoubtedly contribute to the vision for Gateshead to become a Centre of Excellence for Healthcare and will become a benchmark for future developments in the area’.
The building has been designed by P+HS Architects to make a strong architectural statement and will form a significant focal point on Springwell Road through a large two storey glazed screen giving an open welcoming façade.
Joe Biggs at P+HS Architects adds; ‘Wrekenton Health Resource Centre will not only create an aesthetically pleasing focal point but will in itself enhance the well-being and health amongst users. Our holistic approach to designing such buildings encompasses a variety of elements and central to this is the awareness of the positive role in which a sensitively designed environment can play with regard to psychological and physical health. Wrenkenton Health Resource Centre has been designed to be light, bright and colourful, creating an environment which promotes the healing process from the outset and we hope we have created a building which respects both staff and users and is seen to be valuable community resource’.