Ashton Community Health Centre, Ashton-in-Makerfield
Overview
The new health facility houses the community services and GP Practice, currently located within Ashton Clinic and the Medicentre GP practice in a single location.
Supporting more than 10,000 patients, the centre boosts local health services and also provides the opportunity for additional support to be reintroduced to improve the health and wellbeing of residents. The new health centre provides accommodation for a pharmacy.
There is an area on the ground floor meeting/community area that was designed so it could be used out of hours by local community groups. Additional features include an ambulance standby point, which has been included to provide a location where crews can rest between calls. Solar Panels were installed to improve the building’s sustainability credentials and make the project more cost-effective.
37/50 Considerate Constructors score 
100% Waste recycled 
79.4% Local persons on site
Key Challenges
The scheme had an immediate neighbourhood, which comprised of terraced shops and houses. Careful planning and logistics were put into the programme to ensure minimal disruption.
Deliveries and supplies were on a daily lockdown during school drop off and pick up times to avoid obstruction.
Added Value
The children in the adjacent school made safety posters for the hoarding surrounding the site. This enabled the children to learn about SPLAAT (Safe Play At All Times) as well as contributing to the local community.
Pre-start letters were distributed to all local residents and was followed up by updates and bulletins.
The site manager was on personal, day-to-day terms with the staff of the adjoining dental practice, school and residents facing the frontage.
EWC facilitated the salvage and delivery of artefacts from the Town Hall for display in a nearby memorial garden.