WORK WILL START SOON ON £25 MILLION NHS FACILITY

THE transformation of a row of shops on a struggling city centre street into a £25 million NHS facility, will start soon.

- By JOSHUA HARTLEY

The former Claire's Accessories, Mountain Warehouse and Holland and Barrett shops at the partially-demolished Broadmarsh Centre, in Lister Gate, is to be turned into a community diagnostic centre (CDC).

It will be used to quickly test patients without them having to go to hospital.

Contracts have now been signed between new landlord Homes England and Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust (NUH), allowing preparation work to start.

The CDC will open in 2026 and will provide up to 140,000 appointments annually when at full capacity. It is expected to create 75 jobs and employ 135 staff in total.

The centre was initially scheduled to open this year, but work was delayed when asbestos was found in the remnants of the shopping centre.

NUH's deputy medical director, Mark Simmonds, said: "We have been working very hard with our partners over the past year to get us into this position of readiness, and we are really excited to have reached this key stage in the development.