From supermarket to health and wellness hub

Drive down any UK high street, and you wouldn’t be surprised to see a crumbling building nestled between a charity shop and a store selling vapes. It’s been half a decade or more since the NHS began looking at plans for reimagining vacant high street buildings into primary and community care spaces, but as the NHS continues to battle an endless backlog of appointments, not much progress has been made. The Government has instead continued to focus on developing new buildings on existing hospitals sites, rather than bringing healthcare to the high street. Is this investment short-sighted, however?

Not for the faint-hearted

Converting dilapidated buildings certainly isn’t for the faint of heart, and retrofitting them into a healthcare facility brings unique challenges. If, however, incorporating healthcare into our high streets will improve access to it and boost our economy, it would seem to be worth the effort. That is why when we were approached to take part in a local refurbishment project that would retrofit a derelict supermarket into a locally built community space, we jumped at the chance. The Helston Gateway project will bring a GP
surgery and community space —
re-named Cober Valley Health in January this year after the river course that runs close to Helston — to the heart of England’s most southerly town — Helston in Cornwall. Even more, the project aims to achieve Net Zero carbon and the highest energy performance rating. So, it’s great for the local economy and healthcare provision, with little environmental footprint, and a project that we couldn’t resist.

South Kerrier Alliance CIC, the community interest company leading the project, gained funding on 1 March 2024, so it was an immediate start. This is quite rare for a major construction project, and was only made possible through a mantra of local procurement underpinned by a very simple NEC 3(c) contract working on an open-book basis to deliver best value. The first two months of the project were spent demolishing the internal structures of the old supermarket — removing the walk-in freezers, the lift and stairs, the tills and conveyors, and the tobacconist’s area. Local people undertook all aspects of the construction on a labour-only basis, even the electricians. As there are no large companies involved in the construction, every penny of the budget has been kept local to the project.

MJ Medical was appointed to develop the proposed design for a 788 m2 GP surgery for the upper ground floor.

Working at pace

We worked at pace to meet both funding and construction programme timelines. Combining our briefing and design expertise, we were able to help the GP team develop its vision for the new centre. The team was looking for a space which would allow it flexibility. Utilising the existing large-span space of the former supermarket, we based the design on an adaptable planning grid with repeatable rooms grouped around a simple circulation layout. This approach allows the practice to adapt its layout and rooms based on changing needs, new models of care, and future technology.

The design includes consultation rooms for outpatient appointments. This will alleviate the need for people to travel nearly an hour or more to the main hospital. This brings clear benefits to the rural and more local population, particularly as the area suffers from an irregular public transport service. It also decreases pressure on the main hospital, which recently declared a critical incident, urging people in Cornwall to use pharmacies, Minor Injuries, and GP practices, for non-urgent care.

We designed flexible spaces for community use, health promotion, and wellbeing, locating these within the public welcome area and foyer that is visible from the pedestrian and vehicular access ways. This zone can also be used to separate vaccination clinics from the main consultation area, while providing potential expansion space in the future if required. Staff spaces are segregated from the main consultation spaces — providing confidentiality and privacy for healthcare workers.

Welcoming sunlight into dark space

The former supermarket is essentially a windowless box. A key challenge was therefore to introduce natural light into the new centre. We suggested a layout that positions rooms, and as many as possible, on the external walls. Our design cuts new window openings into the existing structural bays while also utilising internal glazed screens for borrowed light where appropriate.

While retrofitting an existing building poses many design and technical challenges, we must begin to consider creative ways of using them if we want to sustain economic growth and not contribute further to the climate crisis.

The shell of the former supermarket was built in 1984, and is surrounded by neighbouring buildings and a car park. While the orientation of the building cannot be altered, its energy performance and consumption can be changed, improved, and future-proofed. As such, the team has explored and embedded several key elements within the retrofit based on a ‘building within a building’ concept.

New insulation fitted to all external walls and the roof creates a warm building inside the shell of the existing supermarket. Newly-formed openings have been carefully located within the existing structural grid. Thermally broken door and window units with specialist glazing, sized to maximise natural light and improve energy performance, have been installed. The main source of heat is through ground source heating, which required the contractor to drill 12 boreholes to an impressive 1.3 km depth within the building footprint. The south elevation of the 1,500 m2 roof will be covered with solar panels, generating electricity, and considerably reducing the running costs of the new centre.

Work on the scheme commenced in March 2024, and the new healthcare facility opened its doors last month, meaning it took just 14 months for the first phase of the building project to come to fruition. It’s been such an exciting programme to work on. Like everyone else who has been involved in making this great vision become a reality, we look forward to the commissioning of the facility, to learn how people respond to the building, and how it serves the Helston community.

An example for other high streets

Hopefully the project will demonstrate what can be achieved on high streets throughout the country. It will illustrate how, with the right vision and support, we can bring healthcare to the community — improving access to medical treatment and prevention for so many, while also revitalising local communities.