This is the first image of a landmark £8 million health centre set to be built in Tipton.

The artist’s impression shows the proposed Glebefields Health Centre, which is set to transform an area once occupied by notorious council flats. 

Health chiefs are now pressing on with plans for the development in St Marks Road, after winning the backing of Sandwell Council planners. 

The 33,000 sq ft health hub will replace the existing Glebefields Health Centre on land once occupied by the Glebefields Estate’s  troubled blocks of flats, Jellicoe and Beatty House.

Building work, set to start in the new year, will take 18 months to complete, with the first patients expected to be welcomed in the summer of 2010. 

The new two-storey centre will serve 35,000 patients and include health services such as GP practices from the existing Glebefields Practice and the Swanpool Medical Centre, as well as community clinics, dental and foot health services,  a GP referral centre and a minor treatment suite along with a pharmacy and opticians. 

The project is a joint initiative between Sandwell Primary Care Trust (PCT) and developers Sandwell Local Improvement Finance Trust Company (Lift), which will build and maintain the centre for the PCT under a long term public private partnership agreement. Mike Nicklin, general manager of Sandwell Lift Company, said: “This development will be a huge benefit to the local community and we are proud to be associated with such a  project, our biggest development to date,” he said. 

“Not only is it great news for local people, it is a flagship project for Sandwell Lift Company and an important part of our £60m programme of investment in health and social care facilities across the area.” Sandwell PCT chairman Richard Nugent added: “We really want to build a healthier future for the people in Sandwell, so this is a great step forward for the area. 

“This new facility is set to provide better access to a range of community health facilities, all within a modern and welcoming environment closer to home.”