Brierley Hill’s new £26 million Health and Social Care Centre has not only changed the face of the town, bringing 21st century health and social care services to the area, but has already brought positive change to individual lives too.
In particular Neil Phipps, now employed by Parkstone and who worked on the health centre, reaped the benefits of the project’s enlightened employment practices. Initially employed on a placement through Dudley Council’s Future Skills BEST scheme, Neil impressed Parkstone and Carillion enough to be offered a full time job.
Carillion, the overall contractor for the centre, signed up to the BEST charter to ensure where possible local workers were employed and training offered. Carillion included this requirement in all their contracts for the Brierley Hill Health and Social Care build.
Neil said; “I’m so grateful that Parkstone and Carillion gave me my original placement. I wanted to work in construction but found it hard to get a position, but I knew I could prove myself if I was given the opportunity.
“I live in the area so it’s been great to work on this building and see it come out of the ground. It’s been good for me and I’m sure it’ll be great for local people too.”
The Centre required £5.3 million of gap funding from Advantage West Midlands to enable extensive land reclamation and infrastructure works at the site, including demolition of the derelict school buildings.
The flagship development was delivered by Dudley Infracare LIFT Ltd (DIL Ltd), a public-private partnership company created under the Government's Partnerships for Health programme.
DIL Ltd secured £20.6 million of funding and planning permission to build the centre which opened in March 2010.
The development has triggered a series of major improvements to the wider Brierley Hill, as the town's three existing health facilities have been consolidated into the LIFT centre and land is now available for other potential developments.
It is also the first major new build in the regeneration centre of the town to utilise Dudley Council’s recently completed parallel route, a £18 million road scheme that has improved access to the heart of the town and tackled the area’s congestion problems.
The scheme has won three awards; winning the Award for Regeneration in the 2009 LIFT Awards, the Express and Star’s Best of the Black Country ‘Regeneration Award’ in 2008 and the “Employer of the Year 2008” award from Future Skills Dudley, which was presented to the Brierley Hill Health & Social Care Centre project team, on behalf of Carillion Building.
Brierley Hill is Dudley borough’s strategic centre and was one of the 20 Impact Investment Locations within the West Midlands region, meaning it was a regional priority for public investment.