Washington

Resulting from strategic proposals to provide four primary care centres facilitated by Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust, the Washington Primary Care Centre is the third primary care centre to be developed within the Sunderland area. The first of these centres already delivered was Grindon Lane, also designed by P+HS.

The new £8.9 million centre provides approximately 2400m2 of accommodation over two floors providing services that include diagnostic tests such as ultrasound and x-ray, planned care for people with chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease and community renal dialysis with fifteen treatment beds for patients.

Seeking to reduce the carbon footprint of the new facility various low energy systems have also been incorporated into the design, including roof mounted ‘wind catchers’ to facilitate the natural ventilation of the building and roof mounted solar pre-heating panels linked to the domestic hot water system.