Work is underway on our new community hub in Knebworth – bringing together the town's library, GP Practice and a pharmacy.
The surgery will include ten clinical rooms with modern space for administration and training, as well as a pharmacy area and increased car parking facilities.
The re-development is on St Martin’s Road allowing the practice to stay at the heart of its community. The centre provides a professionally designed, long-term and sustainable solution for 12,000 local patients and the wider area. The scheme has been designed to satisfy BREEAM ‘Excellent’ criteria, the foremost environmental assessment method and rating system for buildings.
The library service is operating from St Martin’s Church until the new space has been completed and will remain within the Church until the start of 2020.
Dr Prag Moodley, Chair of East and North Hertfordshire CCG said: “This is great news for Knebworth patients. Having GPs working in a bigger, more modern building alongside pharmacy colleagues and the library service will bring great benefits by helping to promote good health and wellbeing and a sense of community.”
Ken Spooner, Practice Manager at Knebworth and Marymead Surgery, said: “We’re looking forward to moving in - at long last we will have the premises we need to continue to develop the services we can offer to our patients and meet the future health needs of Knebworth.”
The scheme is being developed by the Local Housing Group (formerly GPI) whose chairman Richard Kelvin Hughes said “LHG are delighted to work with Knebworth and Marymead Surgery and the East and North Herts CCG in bringing this much needed primary care facility to Knebworth and enabling the delivery of outstanding healthcare services for local patients.”
The scheme is being led by ourselves and delivered by national contractor Tolent. Since starting on site, Tolent has successfully created the temporary library within St Martin’s Church and is now well underway with foundations and groundwork on the site.
Rick Halton, regional director for Tolent, said: “Working across the UK, we have delivered over 140 projects within the healthcare sector, and we look forward to adding this new facility to our portfolio of work.
“We understand the need and importance placed on centres like this one, and so look forward to handing this back over to the community later this year.”
Our Head of Development Simon Gould said: “There are strong connections between the work of GPs to foster good health through social prescribing and library services for patients all over the country. We’re delighted that this new building is creating the space for that to thrive in Knebworth.”