First brick laid at Orchard Park centre

Six school pupils from an Orchard Park primary school donned their hard hats on 22nd September 2008 to help Citycare’s chief executive lay the inaugural brick at a pioneering regeneration site.



The pupils from Thorpe Park Primary School laid the first brick out of an estimated 70,000 bricks and 30,000 breeze blocks that will be used overall in the construction of the £14m Orchard Park NISC (Neighbourhood Integrated Service Centre).



The centre will integrate health, social and community services under one roof, giving the community a new centre for the area, providing assistance on many issues and a broad range of health related consultation and treatment for residents of the Orchard Park Estate and the wider Northern Area.



Work to put the structural steel in place on the site was completed earlier this month and now, with the first brick being laid by some of the younger members of the community, residents in the area can see for themselves that the centre is a reality.



Jo Barnes, Chief Executive of Citycare, said: “It’s fantastic that members of the local community are getting involved with this exciting new development and helping us to lay the first brick.

“We have had lots of support from the local schools and I am really pleased that a group of pupils from Thorpe Park Primary School have been present at this key milestone in the centre’s construction. In fact, in several weeks time we will also be announcing the winner of a competition to name the centre which has been run in conjunction with the local schools.”

Health care services on offer at the centre will see GPs and other primary healthcare professionals based at the centre. The new NISC will also include a Customer Service Centre, alongside the Northern Area Team, which delivers Housing Landlord Services, Streetcare and Anti-Social Behaviour Teams.

The new centre is the seventh to be delivered in the first phase of the city’s NHS LIFT programme, delivered by Citycare and six other LIFT centres are already operational in locations across the city.

Citycare and Sewell Group are working with residents to minimise disruption throughout the construction of the building.

22.09.2008. 17:08

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