Steel completes healthy community frame

Construction work is underway on a £4M project to build a new library, health centre and children’s centre in Pelsall, West Midlands, following the earlier demolition of the existing library building.

In a complex programme involving phased relocation of community services, the library has now moved into temporary premises to allow demolition of the old library building and construction of a new facility to house the library, a health centre and a children’s centre.  The new building is due to be handed over in the summer, at which point medical staff will move across from the existing doctors’ surgery on site, which will then be demolished by main contractor ISG and replaced by car parking facilities.

Designed by architects Baart Harries Newall, the two-storey building is a hybrid structure, with traditional brick and block work construction up to first floor level and a steel frame structure to the second floor sat on top of a pre-cast concrete floor.

Traditional Structures erected 96t of structural steelwork for the project during a four week programme.

The library, pharmacy, children’s centre and a number of health offices and treatment rooms are located to the ground floor. The first floor health centre features a large central open plan waiting area, with treatment and consultation rooms around the perimeter.

The new development is targeting a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ environmental performance rating and incorporates highly efficient mechanical and electrical services, as well as a number of roof lights to maximise the volume of natural light entering into the first floor waiting area.