Work starts on new health and wellbeing centre for Dartmouth

Published: 22 June 2021

A brand new Health and Wellbeing Centre for the people of Dartmouth moves a step closer today, with the start of work on site. Following confirmation from South Hams District Council that all planning conditions have been met, building work can begin on the purpose-designed centre, on land at the top of town adjacent to the park and ride.

Liz Davenport, Chief Executive for Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust commented: “This day has been a long time coming and we are delighted that work is now starting on site to deliver a fantastic new facility for the people of Dartmouth and surrounding villages. We are investing in services based in local communities, so that different healthcare professionals can work together alongside their voluntary sector and social care colleagues, to better meet people’s individual wellbeing needs. This has been a long process, and we are grateful to local people for their support and patience. Getting the first diggers on site makes it all very real and we look forward to being able to open the centre next year.”

The centre is due to open its doors in late summer 2022 and will give local people access to a broad range of health and wellbeing services in one place, by bringing together GPs, community nurses, therapists, Dartmouth Caring and a pharmacy.

Backing the development, local councillor, Ged Yardy, said: “Having a single centre where local people can attend their clinic appointment, see a GP, find about local services, and pick up their prescription – whether that’s social prescribing or medication – will make a real difference. It will also be good to see our GPs, nurses and therapists working together from modern, fit-for-purpose facilities.” 

The centre will offer good public transport links as well as on-site parking – and the overflow parking for the park and ride is also being upgraded with new hardstanding parking spaces.

The building project is being led by Torbay and South Devon’s strategic estates partner, gbpartnerships with the building work carried out by Westcountry building firm, Classic Builders.

Development Director at gbpartnerships, Ian Tuddenham, said: ““This is an exciting development for Dartmouth and we are delighted to be working in partnership with the Trust to deliver the state-of-the-art Health and Wellbeing Centre. This is the first project to start on site, in what we expect will be a number of developments through SDH Innovations Partnership, the joint venture between Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and gbpartnerships.”