COMMUNITY DIAGNOSTIC CENTRES
Thurrock CDC.
Complexity over uniformity One of the most important lessons to be learned is that there is no standard CDC template. Across our projects, we have delivered:
n Linked extensions to existing community hospitals in Essex.
n A 40,000 sq. ft greenfield diagnostic facility opposite an acute hospital site in Norwich.
n A hybrid-constructed CDC at Newmarket Community Hospital.
n A town-centre retail conversion in Grimsby. n Refurbishments beneath live operating theatres in Sussex.
And each context required an entirely different estate strategy. The least problematic context on paper are greenfield builds, which offer a level of design control that refurbishment schemes simply cannot. Structural grids can be optimised, mechanical and electrical distribution can be rationalised, and future expansion can be designed in. But with great control brings great responsibility.
Newmarket CDC.
Ground conditions, utility capacity, and transport access must be cross-examined during early stages. At Norwich’s CDC, co-working with the Trust team on site proved invaluable in accelerating decisions and managing funding milestones.
And at Newmarket CDC, a hybrid construction
approach with 71 per cent pre-manufactured value in addition to the use of a Structural Framing System (SFS) provided a rapid envelope solution that took the traditional brickwork off the critical path, enabling the programme to respond to tight funding deadlines while maintaining quality. Greenfield does not mean ‘simple’ – it means the
complexity is often faced during early stages. However, unlike greenfield sites, working within operational hospitals like Southlands Hospital for University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust requires a fundamentally different mindset. At Shoreham CDC in Southlands Hospital, works
were phased beneath live operating theatres, requiring continuous coordination with clinical teams to manage shutdown protocols and avoid disruption. The programme of works was dictated as much by clinical risk as by construction logic as in a live environment, the construction programme must align with clinical risk, and any service alterations must avoid theatre downtime. Plus, infection control and acoustic separation become programme- critical components of delivery, not afterthoughts. And it is in these sites that knowledge of the estate
held by long-serving Trust engineers is often as valuable as any survey report. This emphasises the fact that early collaboration is not optional, but rather, it is risk mitigation. Perhaps the most visible shift in healthcare estate
strategy has been the move into retail environments. In Grimsby, converting five former retail units within a shopping centre into a CDC for Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust required structural reinforcement, service trenching, and craning specialist equipment through the roof. Floors had to be built up to provide trenching for the services for the scanning equipment, while gantry systems were introduced to support imaging equipment, demonstrating just how far retail shells must be adapted to meet clinical requirements. From an estate perspective, schemes like this demonstrate the viability of repurposing town-centre assets. They also highlight the importance of detailed early investigation. Retail shells are not designed for MRI scanners or lead-lined partitions, so features like structural load paths, vibration measures, and service capacities cannot rely on guesswork or typical expectations – every element must be verified with evidence before proceeding.
32 Health Estate Journal September 2026
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