Next chapter for long-vacant Whitefield Library
NHS Property Services has lodged plans to convert the library into a replacement for the out-of-date Uplands Medical Practice building on Bury New Road.
Designed by Gilling Dod Architects, the 5,800 sq ft primary care GP surgery would include nine consultation/examination rooms and two treatment rooms.
It would also see the return to use for Whitefield Library, which has been closed to the public since 2017 – open only temporarily during the pandemic as a vaccination centre.
Turning the library into a medical centre also resolves another issue for the NHS – the soon-expiring lease for Uplands Medical Practice’s current complex on Bury New Road, a building that requires major refurbishment, according to the Gilling Dod design and access statement.
Access to the proposed medical centre would be from an existing priority T-junction off Pinfold Lane. Patients and staff would be able to park their cars in 24 bays provided on site, including three with EV charging capability and four that are designated disabled.
For those who prefer more active forms of travel, there would be four cycle parking spaces at the entrance to the building, with a further 16 found at the rear of the building. This rear cycle parking area would also include a secure, staff-only area with eight cycle storage bays. All proposed cycling storage areas would be covered.
In addition to Gilling Dod, the project team includes structural and civils engineer and highways consultant Curtins, M&E engineer Silcock Leedham Consulting Engineers, BREEAM expert Ridge and Partners, quantity surveyor Modero, and landscape architect Iteriad.
Ion Acoustics, Urban Tree Management, Arbtech, Netzo, and Purcell also contributed to the planning application. Gilling Dod’s interior design division is handling the interior of the space.
To learn more about the application, search reference 72968 on Bury Council’s planning portal.
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Its good that its coming back into use, but the local opinion was the main building should have been used as a Public Arts Centre /Mixed use /gallery and the medical Centre should have been in the adjacent buildings that arent in use either
By Anonymous
What evidence is there that the local Whitefield community wanted this building used for an arts centre?
By Whitefield Local
@Whitefield Local.
Check out the R/Manchester Subreddit. there was a few posts on it and many comments saying it should have been
By Anonymous