Heron Bros JV wins £14m Southport mental health facility

Heron Bros has been appointed in a joint venture with Farrans to build a 44-bed, £14m mental health facility in Southport to replace the town’s existing Boothroyd Unit on Scarisbrick New Road.

The Northern Irish contractors are due to start work in the coming weeks on the facility, which has been designed by architect Gilling Dod, with IBI as planner, Appletons as landscape architect and ecologist, and AJP as structural engineer.

The Boothroyd Unit was originally a wing of the former Southport General Infirmary, but the building was deemed as no longer fit for purpose by client Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.

The joint venture will build the new facility at a site next to the Boothroyd Unit, formerly housing the General Infirmary, which was demolished in 2008. Part of the hospital’s site has already been developed by Bellway Homes.

The development will provide 51,000 sq ft of treatment space across two storeys, including 44 en-suite bedrooms over two wards, assessment suites, therapy areas, and office space.

The mental health centre will also act as a replacement to another existing facility, the Hesketh Centre near Hesketh Park.

Construction of the project follows planning approval in July, with the facility due to complete in 2019 following a 21-month build period.

The Trust’s investment in the new facility forms part of its strategic plan that by 2018, all patients are to be cared for in new or refurbished buildings.