Property developers focusing on developing space for health and care, Prime are committed to building a better future, one that rejects the change paralysis of the past and cultivates collaborative progress.
Our first podcast series, Space for Change in Health and Care, brings together experts from across the health and property spaces, from local councils to management consultants, wellbeing experts to hospital programme directors to explore some of the critical roles that property development has to play in a changing landscape.
The second episode, ‘The Health and Care High Street’ features Leighton Chumbley, Prime’s Chief Executive. He is joined by Sarb Basi, Director of Primary Care at NHS Black Country and West Birmingham CCG, and Nancy Hey, Executive Director of the What Works Centre for Wellbeing. The podcast is hosted by Natalie Burns, Partner at UnitedUs and edited by CJ Thorpe-Tracey for LoFi Arts.
While many of us have been relocated to home offices, adapting to new ways of working and interacting with our communities, or have found ourselves facing the seemingly never ending race to control and manage the spread of coronavirus, another, quieter change has been happening. As retail businesses grappled with diminished footfall and rapid digitalisation, the spaces that they once occupied on our highstreets have been laid bare.
Though a decline in in-person sales had already been underway before COVID, the pandemic accelerated the rate of their decline, with the latest data claiming that the UK now has more than 142 million square foot of vacant retail space, with more than 40% of that figure having been vacant for three or more years.
This episode focuses on placing health and care amenities, as well as considered accommodation, in the heart of communities. Following, a continued decline of in-person sales across the UK’s high streets could Urban Health & Care Villages revitalise town centres and breathe life back into these once treasured retail hotspots?
“We have a moment in time where we can capitalise upon this opportunity where people see the value of bringing health and care services back into the heart of the community. That’s what the high street gives us. It gives us that real opportunity to turn things on its head and say, you’re not visiting here just because you need fixing, you’re visiting here because you don’t want to be fixed. You want to keep healthy. It becomes very much part of the community.”
Leighton Chumbley, Chief Executive, Prime
The Space for Change in Health and Care podcast series is available directly here https://primeplc.buzzsprout.com/ or can be downloaded from iTunes, Spotify and Amazon Music.
