Haymarket Health Centre
Location
Dunning Street, Tunstall, Staffordshire
Client
GP-led
Area
Brownfield, Urban
Funding
Private equity/debt
The final result of this projects mission primarily based in Tunstall became a two-storey health centre with all required services, plus a further teaching facility and pharmacy.
Overcoming a series of below-ground issues was key to our work on a new doctors practice in the Potteries.
The land Prime purchased for redevelopment was owned by the Co-Op and previously used as an abattoir, leather tanning factory and pottery works.
It sat across the road from a 1950s single-storey health centre that staff were keen to move from. The lead GP there was passionate about GP teaching facilities, so it was important we delivered a larger, modern building for this purpose.
Due to the site’s historic importance as a former pottery works, the scheme sparked interest from archaeologists and needed to be excavated with care. Indeed, we found pottery work during this dig, but also contamination that needed addressing.
And the obstacles didn’t end there. The sloping topography of the land included properties of different heights, a Co-op car park and loading bay, plus old brick walls owned by various landlords and owner-occupiers.
Party wall negotiations were held early in the process and a condition survey was agreed which addressed the various basements and foundations. This was a complex and time consuming process that required us to carefully consider below-ground solutions to move the project forward.
The result was a sharp, two-storey health centre in keeping with its surroundings that still works really well today. It included all the requisite primary care services but also minor surgery, teaching facilities and a pharmacy run by the Co-Op, who were integral players in the success of the scheme.