Assura Regulatory News (AGR)

29 June 2023

Assura plc

Completion of 100th development

Assura plc ("Assura"), the leading primary care property investor and developer, today announces the practical completion of its 100th development - Prestbury Medical Centre in Wolverhampton - as it marks two decades of developing healthcare infrastructure in the UK.

Jonathan Murphy, CEO, said:

"We are proud to have supported the delivery of health care for two decades, creating high-quality premises that serve the needs of health professionals and patients in a primary care setting and generating value for shareholders.

"The new Prestbury Medical Centre in Wolverhampton will provide an essential new home for two relocating GP practices, serving a growing patient list of over 14,500 people and allow additional health services to be moved out of hospital into a community setting. We are pleased to have again worked with Medcentres to deliver this much-needed community facility and that our funding approach has allowed further sustainability enhancements to be made for the benefit of the GPs, health professionals and patients that will use the building.

"As the leading developer in our sector, we have now completed 100 buildings over the course of our 20-year history - delivering modern, fit-for-purpose facilities which are vital for the long-term delivery of community health services that ease the pressures currently being faced by the NHS."

Prestbury Medical Centre, Wolverhampton

The £6 million forward-funded scheme accommodates the health needs of a growing local population, providing state-of-the-art, modern premises for over 14,500 patients. It sees two local surgeries relocating from previous premises that were not fit for purpose and, alongside facilitating critical GP services, will allow the provision of additional training capacity, a greater range of community and out-of-hospital services as well as incorporating a telehealth hub to support digital health care delivery.

In line with Assura's sustainability strategy, the building has been designed to achieve BREEAM "Excellent" certification ("Outstanding" for energy efficiency) and an EPC rating of "A". These ratings have been achieved through delivering an energy solution incorporating air source heat pumps, EV charging points and use of natural ventilation, as well as 70 m2 of photo-voltaic ("PV") panels.

Interiors also reflect the "Designing for Everyone" toolkit launched by Assura in 2022, which seeks to support GP practices in improving their build environments for people with disabilities and conditions such as dementia, neurodiversity and anxiety.

The building, developed under a forward-funding agreement with Medcentres PLC, is 100% let to the GPs on a 25-year lease with open market rent reviews every three years and is a priority project for the NHS Black Country Integrated Care Board.

- ENDS -

Notes to Editors

Assura plc is a national healthcare premises specialist and UK REIT based in Warrington, UK - caring for more than 600 primary healthcare buildings, from which over six million patients are served.

A constituent of the FTSE 250 and the EPRA* indices, as at 31 March 2023, Assura's portfolio was valued at £2.7 billion.

At Assura, we BUILD for health. Assura builds better spaces for people and places, invests in skills and inspires new ways of working, and unlocks the power of design and innovation to deliver lasting impact for communities - aiming for six million people to have benefitted from improvements to and through its healthcare buildings by 2026. 

Assura is leading for a sustainable future, targeting net zero carbon across its portfolio by 2040.

Further information is available at www.assuraplc.com

*EPRA is a registered trademark of the European Public Real Estate Association.