A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to officially open a new Community Diagnostics Centre (CDC) in Thurrock, Essex.

The facility will provide a wide range of essential diagnostic services to the local community, speeding up access to vital healthcare capabilities while reducing waiting times and leading to faster diagnoses for patients.

The opening event was attended by the Minister of State for Health, Dr Zubir Ahmed, alongside Councillor Sue Shinnick, Mayor of Thurrock; James McMurdock, MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock; Councillor Elizabeth Rigby, adult and health services overview and scrutiny committee chair; Councillor Lynn Worrall, leader of Thurrock Council; and Councillo Mark Hooper, health and wellbeing board chair.

Representatives from a wide range of stakeholders also attended the ceremony, including from Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, Thurrock Council, the Department of Health and Social Care, Morgan Sindall Construction, Arcadis, Thurrock Alliance, and Healthwatch Thurrock.

The state-of-the-art centre was delivered by Morgan Sindall’s Essex business and will be run by Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust in collaboration with key healthcare providers across the integrated care board region.

The tier one contractor was appointed to the project by Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust via the NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) framework.

The CDC will provide CT, MRI, and ultrasound scans, echocardiography, blood tests, X-rays, and lung checks.

An extra 75,000 appointments will be offered at the centre each year, with patients able to schedule checks seven days per week

The project involved refurbishing a 1,100sq m building into new consulting rooms and staff support spaces.

An existing single-storey building was also demolished and replaced with a new infill building to house X-ray rooms, CT, and MRI scanners.

Morgan Sindall liaised closely with Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust throughout the development and employed its Intelligent Solutions approach to ensure the project met the needs of the hospital throughout its design, construction, and operation.

This approach included designing specialist areas and arranging work and deliveries to minimise disruption within a tight building area.

Careful scheduling and organisation was especially critical during road widening and car park works, due to the effect this could have on the nearby residential areas.

Other key challenges the team managed included constructing a faraday cage around the MRI room and lead lining around the X-ray and CT rooms, which are required due to the radiation emitted by the onsite equipment.

The nature of this work meant sub-contractors and tradespeople were specially sequenced to account for the additional lead and aluminium building components.

Morgan Sindall collaborated with Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust to ensure the new facility is designed, built, and operated as sustainably as possible.

This saw Morgan Sindall undertake its 10 Tonne Carbon Challenge multiple times, leading to an overall saving of 858 tonnes of CO₂ emissions.

To achieve this, the building’s upstands were redesigned from concrete to timber and the buildability of the roof-level cover was improved.

But the single change that most reduced the facility’s carbon emissions was modifying the specification of the three Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs).

This resulted in a carbon saving of 510 tonnes, which is the equivalent of heating 189 UK homes for a year.

The carbon savings were calculated utilising CarboniCa, a digital carbon calculation tool.

Ryan Liversage, area sirector for Morgan Sindall Construction in Essex, said: “The opening ceremony marked an important moment in Thurrock’s healthcare landscape.

“This Community Diagnostic Centre will deliver a wide range of vital health and well-being benefits thanks to its cutting-edge capabilities and the ability to offer over 75,000 appointments each year.

“At Morgan Sindall, we’ve worked on a number of CDCs and have drawn on this experience to develop a high-performance facility tailored to the staff and patients.

“QThe project also utilised innovative carbon cutting methods, an approach that aligns with Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust’s environmental commitment.

“This collaborative partnership between our team and the trust has been built up over several successful projects and we look forward to continuing to deliver exceptional healthcare environments together.”

The CDCs are part of a national programme funded by the Government to increase diagnostic capacity, providing one-stop shops for checks, tests and scans in the heart of local communities.

Thurrock’s centre is the first of four in mid and south Essex, with CDCs also set to open in Southend, Braintree, and Pitsea.