Plans for UK's 1st Passivhaus Health Centre unveiled

Construction has started for a new NHS health centre that aims to become the first Passivhaus certified health centre in the UK. The 600m² Foleshill Health Centre building in Coventry will provide much-needed accommodation for doctors and patients currently utilising a temporary building.

Foleshill GP Surgery - exterior planning render ©The Tooley & Foster Partnership LLP

The £3.3m development is expected to cater to 10,000 local patients, funded by Community Health Partnerships (CHP) from its capital programme and supported by a Section 106 contribution for health in the locality.

The Health Centre maximizes natural light and has an attractive timber and render exterior. The building is laid out to prioritise patient care and contains:

5 Consulting rooms
2 Treatment rooms
ancillary accommodation including waiting and reception areas

Foleshill GP Surgery - Planning render ©The Tooley & Foster Partnership LLP

The scheme will be constructed using off-site modular construction delivered by Portakabin and as well as Passivhaus compliance, will also meet BREEAM Excellent - just some of the credentials that will ensure efficiency in construction and in-use throughout the life of the building. Detailed life cycle costing indicates that the new Passivhaus building is expected to save £0.45m in operating costs over the life of the building.

Foleshill Health Centre ©The Tooley & Foster Partnership LLP

The new centre removes reliance on on-site fossil fuel, with heating provided by an air source heat pump. Photovoltaic panels on the roof generate some of the energy to be used in the building. Electric car charging points & cycle stores hope to encourage greener transport.

As the first health building development of its kind in the UK, we had to ensure that every option was thoroughly explored and evaluated before gaining national approval from NHS England. However, this now provides the opportunity to evidence the case for sustainable development and will make a valuable contribution to the Government targets of reducing carbon emissions to zero by 2050; no small challenge when the health estate makes up 4-5% of England’s carbon footprint.”

Malcolm Twite, Chief Commercial Officer, CHP

The plans were carefully scrutinised by NHS England to ensure compliance with rigorous NHS standards. The scheme has an ambitious expected delivery date of April 2021. It is hoped that similar designs with a modular, Passivhaus approach can be used for future new healthcare buildings.

Key Team

Client: Community Health Partnerships (CHP) & NHS Coventry and Rugby Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). CHP is wholly owned by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and is a key member of the NHS family.

Architect & Passivhaus design: The Tooley & Foster Partnership LLP (PHT Patron Accredited Passivhaus Design is a trading arm of Tooley Foster Partnership)

Passivhaus Certifier: PHT Patron WARM Low Energy Building Practice

Cost Consultant & Contract Administrator: Aecom

Development Management: Arden Estates Partnership Limited

Building Services: PHT member QODA Consulting Ltd

Principle Contractor: Portakabin Limited

Water Authorised Engineer: Hyrop ECS

Hear more about the scheme which is featured at the 2020 UK Passivhaus Conference as a keynote case study on 04 November.