Country: United Kingdom
Key Area: Buildings
Services: Civil Engineering,Geotechnical Engineering,Structural Engineering

A state-of-the-art Medical Centre, designed by Opus, opened to the public in Port Talbot to provide a one-stop shop for patients and is the first of its kind in Wales. 

The centre, which took 18 months to build, houses a wide variety of services, including four GP Practices, a dental school and dental facilities, community and therapy services, voluntary sector agencies, including the Citizens Advice Bureau and Age Concern.

With a nautical theme to reflect the maritime history of Port Talbot, the Health Centre has an eye-catching sail shaped roof. The building is shaped like a ‘split rugby ball’ on plan, with the two halves separated by a central street. 

In addition to the civil, structural and geotechnical engineering design, Opus carried out flood risk assessments and detailed ground investigations. The site is susceptible to flooding and the level of the building was raised to be above the maximum anticipated flood level.

The building is also located on reclaimed land which has a buried layer of very hard blast furnace slag from the nearby steelworks. The building’s piled foundations were pre-bored to penetrate this obstruction. 

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