A topping out ceremony has been held in Weston-super-Mare as a new £15 million town centre health hub continues to take shape.
The health centre and GP surgery at Sunnyside Road North will provide facilities serving up to 12,500 people once it is completed next summer.
The wider masterplan for the project includes the provision of around 200 new one and two-bedroom apartment homes on land that is part of the home of Weston-super-Mare Rugby Club, along with a site on the Recreation Ground earmarked for a new primary school, to be provided by North Somerset Council.
The project is being delivered by RED Group and led by Bristol-based property developer StudioHIVE together with its partner Atlas Land, working in partnership with North Somerset Council, the NHS and the rugby club.
Representatives from the various partners were joined by Weston-super-Mare MP Dan Aldridge at the topping out ceremony, which saw James Howard, development director at StudioHIVE, use a signed and engraved trowel to symbolically complete the final cast of concrete on the upstand.
Jason Collard, managing director of StudioHIVE, was joined by several colleagues at the topping out.
“We’ve been involved in this project for a number of years and it’s fantastic to have reached this point,” he said.
“This is one of the largest health buildings being delivered anywhere in the UK and it will form part of an exciting future for Weston-super-Mare. The town really needs this new facility and it will have a really positive impact on the health and well-being of the area.”
Dan Aldridge, MP for Weston-super-Mare, said: “Weston needs a health care service fit for the next generation, and I am so proud that the government is investing into Weston. My family and friends use the existing Graham Road surgery and they will patients when the new health hub replaces it. I am keen to work with local providers to ensure it really does deliver for people in Weston.”
Ian Long, operations director at RED Group, said: “This topping out ceremony represents the ‘home straight’ – it is a milestone which acknowledges the hard work of all the stakeholders involved, while traditionally it also symbolises a blessing for the building and for the safety of the construction workers as work continues.”
“At the start of the year the groundbreaking ceremony saw us all standing in the rain on a muddy rugby pitch, so it is amazing to have reached the stage where we are standing at the top of the new building as it nears completion, enjoying views across Weston and beyond,” said Roger Coles, president of Weston-super-Mare Rugby Football Club.
Tim James, associate director of estates at NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board, said: “The development of this new facility has been years in the making and is a high priority for local health and care organisations.
“It is really exciting to be on the home straight as the construction nears completion and we move a step closer to providing a modern, purpose-built facility for local people.”
StudioHIVE and its sister company StudioHIVE Architects are involved in some of the South West’s other most high-profile development projects, including the creation of new offices, homes and student accommodation at the 12-acre, £500 million Silverthorne Lane regeneration site near Bristol Temple Meads station.
