Mill Rise Village
“Having lived here for three years, I can certainly say that this is by far the best way I have seen of allowing people to remain truly independent, but having support on hand if it’s required. At the end of one’s life, there may well be a short time where you won’t be able to care for yourself and will have to rely on other people, but it’s important to keep that period to a minimum and places like Mill Rise allow this to happen.”
Mike Reynolds Chairman of Mill Rise’s residents’ association
When Milehouse Primary Care Centre in Newcastle under Lyme needed a new fit-for purpose building, Prima 200 was able to locate a perfect site for the new Primary Care scheme but it was part of an 11 acre redevelopment site and therefore was financially unviable for the small 1,622 sqm centre.
The team at Prima 200 needed to identify a third party that would be a complementary occupier to the GP and community trust services. Using market knowledge and local contacts Prima 200 began talks with Aspire Housing, a Registered Social Landlord, about the feasibility of incorporating an extra care element in to the development.
The larger integrated health and social care scheme provided economies of scale to make it financially viable for both parties and its success lay within its careful design to integrate a state-of-the-art primary care centre and the extra care complex, while ensuring the seamless co-location of a number of vital community services from different NHS providers.
This multi-award winning innovative £15 million housing, health and leisure development brings together extra care housing for the over 55s, a state-of-the-art primary care centre and additional retail and leisure facilities including a restaurant, fitness suite, hobby rooms, café, pharmacy, hair salon, piazza, landscaped gardens, allotments and conservatory. The central piazza acts as the heart of the scheme, being the access point for all the facilities on the site, achieving true integration.
The scheme was one of the first outside London to combine extra care housing with a state-of-the-art primary care facility.
Merging funding streams
Responding to the future growth in the elderly population and the associated extra demands for age-related services and support, this project was the result of successful joint working by eight public and private sector organisations, with Prima 200 managing and co-ordinating separate funding streams to deliver the scheme. The innovative and flexible approach adopted enabled Prima 200 to deliver the project in its entirety, merging funding streams (including grant funding) but allowing the NHS element to be procured through the LIFT contract and the housing element to be procured through OJEU. This ensured all parties complied with their funder requirements and still benefited from value for money, high quality facilities and speed of delivery.RELATED ITEMS:
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Size: 8122sqm -
Completed: May 2009 -
Partners: NHS North Staffordshire, Aspire Housing, Homes and Communities Agency, Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, Staffordshire County Council, RENEW North Staffordshire, Friends of Mill Rise, Urban Vision, Community and patient groups, Three GP practices