Mill Rise Village wins national award
July 12th 2010
Mill Rise Village, incorporating Milehouse Primary Care Centre, wins LIFT Exemplar Award at prestigious Community Health Partnerships (CHP) LIFT Awards 2010.
Designed by One Creative Environments Ltd, Mill Rise Village received the Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) 'Exemplar' award last week. The £15 million unique mixed-use-scheme, twins the state of the art Milehouse Primary Care Centre with a 60-bed extra care retirement village located in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Mill Rise Village, developed and delivered by North Staffordshire LIFT company Prima 200 in partnership with Prime plc, opened last summer, and represents a growing trend of developments that use healthcare to anchor other community services such as elderly care, pharmacies and dentistry into a destination. It combines extra care housing for the over 55s with the primary care centre, plus a range of social amenities including a public piazza, restaurant, café, bar and hair salon. Located immediately next door to a major supermarket, it helps to facilitate independent living for residents that may otherwise become increasingly dependent on others. It comprises 60 one and two-bedroom extra care apartments for rent and shared ownership and further incorporates three GP practices and a pharmacy, all in a secure village style environment.
Mill Rise is an innovative project that was required to do numerous things for different groups of people, and was a key trigger for local area regeneration, being part of an Area of Major Intervention (AMI), an area featuring within the top twenty on indices of multiple deprivation – economic, health and educational attainment. Improving the health and social care services available to the local community was a key strategic priority. One Creative Environments Ltd collaborated with seven other partner organisations, setting a new benchmark for public private collaboration, and achieving real benefit for communities through service improvement, increased social housing and kick-starting a further programme of investment for a new 160 unit housing development.
Through extensive consultation at each stage of the project, the design of the building met the diverse requirements of a health facility, leisure facilities and home life in an affordable, value for money process without compromising on quality.
The challenging Mill Rise design vision was to create a place to live, work and enjoy independent living that would quickly become the heart of a new and growing community. A place that provides for the different services of health and housing in their own right whilst bringing them together to create much more than just a set of flats and a health centre.
To date, Mill Rise Village has also won: The UK’s Most Outstanding Extra Care Scheme 2009 Award from UK Over 50s Housing Weekly News, and the Elderly Accommodation Council’s ‘Housing for Older People’ Award 2010.
Tony Bruce, Chief Executive of NHS North Staffordshire, comments: “Mill Rise was a very exciting development for the people of Milehouse and brings much needed health facilities to the area in a modern, purpose-built centre. It was a unique project combining health and social housing together on one site, and we are very pleased to be part of this successful partnership.”
