Work gets underway on Longbridge accommodation for Royal Centre for Defence Medicine staff
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation and St Modwen have marked the start of construction on a new accommodation facility at Longbridge.
Left to right: Sergeant Anna Fairfoull, Royal Centre for Defence Medicine; Surgeon General, Surgeon Vice Admiral Alasdair Walker, Head of Defence Medical Services; Lance Corporal Stanley Kodia, Royal Centre for Defence Medicine; Lieutenant Commander Julian Despres, Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, on the site of the new building. (Photo: Hi-Pix Photography Ltd. All rights reserved)
The facility at Longbridge is for medical specialists who treat injured military personnel at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Planning consent for the new scheme was approved last year and construction is now underway, with the first occupants due to move into their new accommodation in summer 2017.
The building will provide 180 en-suite bedrooms, catering and support facilities for medical staff based at the hospital’s Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM).
The high quality residential facility is located at the heart of St. Modwen’s £1 billion Longbridge community, and residents will benefit from a host of local amenities on the doorstep as well as excellent transport links to the hospital and Birmingham city centre.
St. Modwen, the UK’s leading regeneration specialist, is also creating foot and cycle connections between the new building and Longbridge Town Centre, by extending the existing path; which runs alongside the River Rea through Austin Park and under the A38 bridge, to the facility.
Sinead McGoldrick, DIO’s Project Manager, said:
DIO supports service personnel by providing a fit for purpose estate and accommodation so we’re happy to be undertaking this project with St Modwen. The new accommodation will be of the high quality our dedicated military medical staff deserve.
Surgeon Vice Admiral Alasdair Walker, the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Surgeon General, said:
The construction of this building is a significant step in improving accommodation facilities for staff at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine. It will provide a focal point that will develop and maintain a sense of belonging and teamwork in support of the essential medical work they undertake every day.
We are planning to choose a building name that is both a fitting tribute to those who have gone before and that recognises personnel from all 3 services working together as one team.
Mike Murray, development director at St. Modwen, said:
It is a testament to the success of Longbridge that the DIO has chosen to locate its accommodation here and invest in the area and it is exciting to see construction underway on the new facility. We very much look forward to welcoming staff to the vibrant community at Longbridge, whilst equally adding to the increasingly diverse offering we have here.
With improvements to footpath and cycle links being brought forward as part of the development, we are also creating a greener, cleaner environment not just for the future occupants, but everyone at Longbridge.
St. Modwen has invested £300 million into regenerating the former MG Rover site at Longbridge since 2003; this equates to £25 million per year. 400 family homes have been created, along with a £35 million ExtraCare Retirement Village currently under construction. The developer has also constructed a £100 million town centre, offering shops, eateries, offices, the new Bournville College, and the new Austin Park.