Charles Higgins Partnership should be brought in at the earliest stages when you first start to consider the need for new medical premises. The principals have valuable experience and insights to offer, having been down this route a number of times, on how to arrive at key decisions from the very earliest point in the chain.

The basic criteria need to be thought through:

• Is there PCT support or do we need to prepare the ground before you get PCT support?
• How much space is required?
• How much reimbursable space will be supported by the PCT, (the old Red Book is still used as a guide by the PCT’s)?
• How the building can be funded?

The accommodation needs to meet the requirements of the government schedules on floor areas, however the practice may well wish to build larger premises allowing rooms to be hired out to complementary medical practitioners or other services which may be beneficial to patients such, as dentists or opticians, creating the opportunity to have a one stop medical centre.

Once we have worked through this together, it is then time to look for a suitable site.
Until you have have a good assessment of your needs and wants looking for a site will
be difficult as you will not know how big a parcel of land to identify.

We will work with you to identify potential sites and then negotiate with owners for the purchase of your preferred site.

Once the rights to purchase the site have been secured, subject to obtaining planning permission, PCT funding DV assessment Etc, the detailed brief will be developed with you and your colleagues incorporating any preferences for methods of working etc.

Philip Proctor Architects will be appointed by Charles Higgins Partnership to evolve a design based on the brief given by the practice and then handle all Local Authority negotiations. While the medical practice will not fund the project, it is asked to pay for the planning application fee as a token of good faith and that they have really considered the plans as being what they want, noting that this fee will be refunded on completion of the Lease.

On receiving planning permission, Philip Proctor will continue the detailed design, again in consultation with you and your colleagues, down to the placing of coat hooks in due course. The building work will then be commissioned and when completed,handed over to you ready for moving in.

There are services such as the burglar alarm/security system, telephone and computer installation which the practice will wish to handle directly as these are areas of specialist equipment and where there are very good tax reasons to commission them directly.