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UME have been an essential part of the planning and design team that have translated our vision for primary care and community services into Health and Well-Being Centres that will be fit for purpose for the future.

Andrew Ridley
Director of Primary Care
Tower Hamlets PCT

Danetre Community HospitalDaventry, Northampton

Design process/challenges

There were a number of challenges in both design and build, due to the nature of the site:

existing services had to remain operational throughout the redevelopment;
adjacent land had transferred to social services for a separate PFI scheme;
the site contains listed buildings that require protecting and restoration;
the planning department indicated that any new development could not come forward of
the historic chapel or detract from the listed buildings.

A further challenge for the legal team was that the new green book rules for affordability and value for money were introduced during this procurement. This resulted in a drop in the affordability envelope. We worked closely with the Trust's financial advisors and the rest of the team to re-engineer the bid so that it was value for money and affordable under the new rules.