Assura plc property director Andrew Darke on boosting the North West’s healthcare infrastructure

Welcome to part one of Bdaily North West’s Built Environment series. This Autumn, we’re offering you key insights into the work of major players reshaping the region’s developed spaces.

Today we spoke with Andrew Darke, property director of Warrington-headquartered Assura plc, a designer, investor and manager of GP surgery buildings across the country.

Can you give our readers a brief outline of your business and what it does?

“A big part of our business is developing state-of-the-art new buildings for practices whose existing premises just aren’t fit for purpose – we estimate that around one third of practices are based in converted residential buildings, your 1960s bungalow or Victorian terrace, which often struggle to offer the space, layout and connectivity that GPs need from their buildings today.

“We also work with GPs who no longer want to own their own surgery buildings – we can take on ownership of their premises and lease them back to the GPs.

“As a long-term property partner, we can then help the GPs make more space, improve the buildings and make the layout work more effectively for them.

“In total we own more than 400 primary care centre buildings, and almost half are in the North of England.”

What are some of the bigger North West projects you’ve been involved with previously?

“We’re very proud to have led the development of some of the most iconic primary care buildings in the region – including Eagle Bridge Medical Centre in Crewe, which is one of the country’s flagship sites for primary care infrastructure as the home of three GP practices and a whole range of other NHS services such as physiotherapy, phlebotomy and MSK.

“Up in Blackpool, it’s now six years since the Moor Park Health and Leisure Centre opened where we created a state-of-the-art space for three GP practices, a pharmacy, dental care, PCT outpatient services and a café next to the town’s leisure centre and library, a real campus for wellbeing.

“In Macclesfield, our building for the Waters Green Medical Centre allowed six GP surgeries to move under the same roof rather than operating from separate, unfit premises, doubling the space for general practice and bringing in additional services including a pharmacy, Macclesfield Health Hub and an independent dentist.

“And in Birkenhead, our medical centre building for two local GP practices, community services and a pharmacy created important social infrastructure in an area of high deprivation and high healthcare need, as part of the town’s wider regeneration.”

What are you working on right now?

“This is a particularly busy time for us with a number of new surgery builds about to get underway around the country as well as several major extensions and refurbishments of existing buildings, to create more space for their GPs.

“Around the country we’ve also got a number of new health and community services moving into some of our premises in the next few months to co-locate with GPs, and in Manchester our first zero carbon GP surgery building has just opened to patients in West Gorton.

“It uses the latest sustainable design and build techniques and our aim is that these will completely eliminate heating and lighting costs for the GPs inside.”

What sort of economic impact do you believe your work has had on the region?

“We develop to BREEAM rating for all of our new buildings, designing them with a number of ecologically and environmentally sustainable features which typically make the new buildings more energy efficient than the previous premises.

“We also look to use local businesses for development projects and ongoing maintenance work – supporting jobs, services, suppliers and materials in the regional economy wherever we can.”

What’s most important to your business in the work you do?

“Everything we do is led by GPs themselves. When we embark on a new surgery building project, it’s the GPs – working with local NHS – who create the vision for the building based on the services they want to provide and the needs of their patients.

“Every place and every practice is different. Incorporating the GPs’ vision for the future is essential, given the NHS focus on bringing services out of hospital and closer to home into primary care. Our architect partners – specialists in primary care design – work with the practice to turn that vision into the plans we take forward.

“We look after the whole process, from securing the site to moving proposals through the planning process then delivering the build and handing over the keys. As with any development project, helping the GPs to bring patients and the wider community along on that journey is crucial.”

Do you operate in partnership with other companies in the North West?

“We work with businesses all over the country on development projects and ongoing maintenance work – historically, on a number of our North West builds we’ve collaborated with LSP Developments.”

Can you name any regional developments you’re not involved in that have caught your eye?

“I particularly like the new healthcare development proceeding in Altrincham. It encapsulates the strategic vision for integration of many health providers and stakeholders under one roof.

“For me that means better health outcomes for the local community in a building that’s accessible.”

Lastly, what’s your favourite space in the North West?

“I have always admired the Albert Dock in Liverpool, where terrific buildings with true heritage have been brought to life into a commercially economic manner and have sustained their economic viability after the first wave of funding.

“They provide public access to buildings with huge historic importance and are a testament to public / private collaboration.”

Thank you, Andrew.

To take part in our new series, get in touch with Bdaily North West editor Richard at richard.bell@bdaily.co.uk

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