A planned £25m health hub and its “tunnel of light” will pave the way for a large-scale redevelopment of the area around Colin Campbell Court in Plymouth’s West End including refurbishing the art deco former Habitat building.
Detailed new images have been released of the proposed West End Health and Wellbeing Centre which will front onto Western Approach and fill a huge part of the car park in down-at-heel Colin Campbell Court.
They show an eye-catching three-storey block with living, plant-covered “green walls” and a glass-roofed inner “green courtyard”, with the entire building surrounded by landscaped gardens.
And the project, which will go before council planners this year, is aimed at being the first segment in a regeneration of the Colin Campbell Court area.
This could eventually see the refurbishment of the former art deco building, now named Colin Campbell House, and the demolition and replacement of some buildings fronting Western Approach and Market Avenue with blocks of flats which will be higher than the buildings currently there.
More detailed plans for the health hub, which at 5,700sq m is bigger than Colin Campbell House, were revealed to the public at a second consultation event, in Union Street.
Images produced by Exeter-based architecture and urban design practice KTA give more details of how the building would look, and the materials that would be used.
Ajay Sharma, a KTA director, said they show the “greening of the facade” and “tunnel of light” through the building beneath a glazed roof, and said: “The tunnel of light is at the heart of it, so it is not a dark space. We also want to connect to the public through the garden space, so this is not closed off. It also creates an east to west connection through to the market, bringing the West End through to Stonehouse. We have had lots of positive comments from people in Stonehouse and local businesses.”
Mr Sharma said KTA is also involved with the masterplan for the surrounding area and said the health hub “has got to be a catalyst for future development”. He added: “We have been trying for decades to redevelop Colin Campbell Court.”
Plans for the health hub, created by the council in partnership with the NHS, will be submitted in December and it is hoped approval will be gained by Easter 2022 with construction starting in the autumn on an 18-month contract.
It is therefore anticipated that the West End Health and Wellbeing Centre could be open by the summer of 2024 and attract up to 4,000 people into the city centre every day, bringing a huge economic boost for the West End of the city centre.
Matt Ward, Plymouth City Council’s head of strategic development projects, said the Joint Local Plan (JLP) envisages Colin Campbell House, which is now owned by the council, being returned to use but said: “We have no formal plans yet.”
He said the council had also acquired some properties in Western Approach and Market Avenue which could be demolished for future residential development and said: “The JLP talks about developing the area, and it being residential led, with maybe some commercial uses at ground floor level.”
The council is partnering with NHS Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) on the ambitious health hub project, and has been acquiring properties in the row of shops opening onto Western Approach and intends to knock them down to make way for it.
The West End Health and Wellbeing Centre, which would cost between £20m and £25m to build, has been designed to include a range of services all under one roof in a convenient city centre location.
The plan is to have GPs, dental care professionals, nurses, mental health service providers, other health professionals and the voluntary sector working in a single setting, thereby offering joined-up, seamless care.
It would see three GPs’ practices - North Road West Medical Centre, Adelaide Surgery and Armada Surgery - move into the building, alongside outpatient services provided by University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, mental health, community health and diagnostic services, including X-ray
The building would have a pharmacy, community kitchen and dining area, cafe, mental health area, and bookable interview and voluntary sector rooms, and small meeting “pods”, on the ground floor.
The first floor would contain clinical and primary care rooms, including for the GPs’ surgeries, and offices, with the second floor occupied by shared administrative space and five dental chairs.
Plymouth City Council owns the car park and has, with support from Homes England, has been acquiring the long-leases on the properties that are to be demolished, from the Costless supermarket to Maxim. It is intended the multi-storey car park on the opposite side of Western Approach will be used by people visiting the health building.
Once the health hub is completed it is expected that the city council will sell it to the NHS and will become a “pioneering” way of delivering healthcare, replicated around the country.
