New health centre for Milton Keynes by our Major Projects Framework 2 Partner, Willmott Dixon.
To cater to the expanding needs of Milton Keynes, a new, modern healthcare facility, Whitehouse Medical Centre, has opened its doors in the Western Expansion Area. This project not only serves residents in this new development but also provides additional capacity for neighboring estates.
This new health centre signifies a continued commitment to providing quality healthcare for Milton Keynes residents. It follows shortly after the successful completion of Brooklands Health Centre, another testament to the town's focus on local healthcare excellence.
Recognising the increasing demand for specialised healthcare services, the center underwent further fit-out in 2023. This expansion included the much-needed addition of a renal dialysis unit.
Previously, residents requiring dialysis care faced long journeys, traveling up to two hours round-trip to Oxford or Aylesbury for appointments, often as frequently as three times a week.
The new unit boasts 16 specialised bays, facilitating two treatment sessions daily. This translates to:
- Treatment for 64 patients, three times a week
- 768 treatments delivered monthly
- An estimated 10,000 avoided long-distance trips annually
The improved access significantly reduces travel time and associated stress for patients, while also contributing to a greener future through a reduction of approximately 4.5 tonnes of carbon emissions annually.
Aligned with Willmott Dixon's "purpose beyond profit" values, the project prioritised creating local employment and training opportunities. Throughout construction, they invested £1 million in community activities and skilling residents for future jobs.
Peter Owen, managing director at Willmott Dixon in the Midlands: “Whitehouse Medical Centre is an advanced healthcare facility and, as such, is a key development for Milton Keynes. This provides a clear demonstration of the value that can be generated through long-term relationships, which is what we have with Milton Keynes Council. "We are very proud to have helped deliver this important scheme for the region, which is benefiting the lives of residents within Milton Keynes by providing the highest-quality medical care and health facilities."
Thanks to the team at Construction Midlands for their work as the project received a successful defect-free handover.
This achievement exemplifies the very purpose of our framework: delivering high-quality healthcare projects that minimise disruption for our clients. By ensuring a defect free handover, we're helping to streamline the process and get these vital facilities up and running as quickly and efficiently as possible.
The importance of defect-free handover means minimising the need for contractors to revisit the site and potentially hinder critical healthcare services.
"The Willmott Dixon team were a pleasure to work with on this project which had its challenges, Kate Doyle was an excellent design manager and problem solver, helping to develop solutions to achieve the end user design requirements.
The team on site were pro active, accommodating, managed any issues that occurred and delivered a fantastic facility to the people of Milton Keynes.
The Whole project was overseen by Tony Dawson who was quick to respond to any queries and resolve issues as they arose and offered a consistency throughout the life of the project.
Overall the process Willmott Dixon use to deliver projects are good in assisting the client and end user to achieve the facilities they require" - Sarah Bayliss, Project Leader, Milton Keynes Council
Milton Keynes Council lead the delivery of the new centre on behalf of NHS partners.
Find out more about the framework here.