Further LIFT for health facilities in Yorkshire | 08 April 10

LAW firm Ward Hadaway has played its part in helping to improve healthcare facilities for people in South Yorkshire by advising on £15m worth of new developments in Doncaster.

The firm, which has offices in Leeds and Newcastle, provided legal advice to primary care trust NHS Doncaster on the development of a new GP surgery in the Conisbrough area of the town and a healthcare ‘hub’ in Doncaster town centre.

The hub will house retail space, including a pharmacy, and healthcare services as well as a GP surgery in a four storey development.

The new facility at Conisbrough will provide modern accommodation for the two existing family doctor practices, district nursing, minor operations, and a pharmacy.

The facilities are being built via the public/private partnership Doncaster Community Solutions, which operates under the umbrella of the Government’s LIFT (Local Improvement Finance Trust) programme.

Simon Priestley, partner and head of the specialist public sector property unit at Ward Hadaway, led the firm’s team on the developments, working with public sector partner Sarah Jones and members of Ward Hadaway’s property, public sector, banking and construction teams.

Simon Priestley said: “These new developments are literally changing the face of healthcare in Doncaster and will provide greatly improved healthcare facilities for people in the town and the surrounding area.

“It has been very rewarding working in partnership with our colleagues at NHS Doncaster to secure these high quality facilities and ensuring that taxpayers get the best possible value for money from the developments.”

Ward Hadaway has now advised NHS Doncaster on more than £50m worth of LIFT projects.

The firm previously provided legal advice on a £22m scheme to build four ‘super surgeries’ and on a £14m project to build three other health centres in the town.

Annette Laban, Chief Executive of NHS Doncaster, said: “These are two exciting new developments for the Doncaster area which will bring about major improvements to the way we provide local NHS services.

“They will also play a key role in the on-going regeneration of Doncaster town centre and Conisbrough.

“We are grateful to Simon and his team at Ward Hadaway for all the hard work and expertise which they have brought to the project.”

The Doncaster town centre hub will be built on the site of the current Trades and Labour Club (TLC), at St Sepulchre Gate, close to Doncaster railway station and the Interchange.

The building, which at one time was home to clothing manufacturer SR Gent, will be demolished to make way for what will be Doncaster’s first purpose-built four-storey health centre.

When it opens in Winter 2011 it will be the new home for Doncaster’s ‘walk-in’ health centre, which is open every day of the year from 8am to 8pm and is currently based at Devonshire House on South Parade.

In addition to family doctor services, the new centre also is planning to offer dentistry, a pharmacy and other NHS services yet to be agreed.

The triangular shaped building, which will cost £8m, will be environmentally friendly, with many ‘green’ features, including a natural light ‘well’ to draw in daylight, a system for harvesting and re-using rainwater, and solar panels to offset heating costs.

The £7m two-storey Conisbrough Centre will be built on the site of the existing health centre on Gardens Lane in Doncaster.

Work is expected to take around 18 months and be completed late summer 2011.

The contract to construct the two buildings has been awarded to Morgan Ashurst, which has also built the seven existing LIFT centres in Doncaster.

In addition its extensive work in Doncaster, Ward Hadaway acts for a number of PCTs and health trusts in the Yorkshire region including Sheffield Primary Care Trust on its current LIFT project.

The firm also provides legal advice to Nottinghamshire County PCT and to NHS North of Tyne on their LIFT programmes.

In total, Ward Hadaway is advising on more than £2bn worth of public/private capital projects.

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