4 December 2023 – The Edenbridge Memorial Health Centre is now open

The new Edenbridge Memorial Health Centre has now opened in Edenbridge for Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust and Edenbridge Medical Practice.

There will be multiple services working together under one roof, including a new GP surgery, children’s services, diagnostic services, a wellbeing centre and a wide range of outpatient clinics and will reduce the need for people to travel to Tunbridge Wells or Maidstone hospitals for care.

The centre is a non-institutional, welcoming building in a greenbelt zone, accessed from Four Elms Road to the north of the site and will replace facilities at both Edenbridge Medical Practice and Edenbridge Memorial Hospital which became unfit for purpose and unable to support future service models.

This new £8.6 Million Health & Wellbeing Centre was built by Galliford Try, designed by LSI Architects and provides a 2,180 square metre of clinical and community space, along with parking and landscaping crafted by UBU design.

Surrounded by hard and soft landscaping, the low rise building uses a simple palette of materials and components to create a non-institutional healthcare building. The form generates a familiar association with the local vernacular of Kent through a series of alternating gable roofs

All patients and visitors will enter the Centre via the main entrance which is a public focal point for the centre with a vibrant, welcoming feel.

The therapeutic aspects of the hub reflect its location within the Kentish countryside. The entrance gives way to a central hub that aims to foster a sense of wellbeing through the use of natural finishes with views to a central courtyard garden that allows natural daylight to fill the waiting areas. The integration of roof lights offers views of the sky and lets natural day light and fresh air deep into the building plan.

The different health zone elements within the Centre will be clearly signposted from its central hub area with intuitive wayfinding and features to promote familiarity.

There will be opportunities within the entry zone for health promotion and education pop-ups, comfortable seating and welfare facilities.

The new Edenbridge Integrated Heath Centre facility has been designed to achieve a rating of ‘Excellent’ in the BRE’s BREEAM sustainability certification and will apply sustainable design principles to minimise energy demand, maximise the health and wellbeing of building occupants, and ensure enhancement and protection of the external environment.