March/April 1998 112

More Space for Health

A Dream About to Come True

The project started with the recognition, by-a small group of residents led by Dr. Adrian Davis, that the facilities provided within the Hospital Premises were woefully inadequate as accommodation for a modern Health Centre. The prime concern of Dr. Davis was to help guarantee quality health care within the Islands. This recognition was transformed into action, a committee was formed to raise funds and to look for an architect to provide suitable plans for new premises. The architect chosen was Mr. Barry Briscoe. What started as little more than a dream held by a few is well on the way to being a reality.
The requirement was that the building be energy efficient, have character and, be capable of meeting the needs of the community well into the 21st century. It was felt that the design of the building proposed by Mr. Barry Briscoe met these requirements and finally in October 1997 (after considerable fund raising) the decision was made to start the building work.
The construction has now reached the half way stage and at the moment looks to be on target for its completion in July 1998.
To enable the work to commence it has been necessary for the Trustees to obtain a loan for the balance of funding required. This loan comes very near to the limit which can be paid back from the rent and leaves little room for variations in building costs, etc. After careful deliberation the Trustees considered this to be the best way forward due to the fact that costs were rising. It was felt that if work had been left to a later date, escalation of building costs could have made it impossible to proceed.

The building is a timber frame construction on a concrete base. The ground floor will be faced with granite up to window sill level with the remainder of the exterior walls rendered. The main contractors, Thermatech Ltd. of St. Austell will be installing a geothermal heating system. Geo-Science Ltd. of Penryn have recommended this as an energy efficient supplement to electrical heating. This has involved drilling a hole into the bedrock to the depth of over 30 metres. Water will be passed down the hole through a pipe and then returned to the surface where it will enter a heat exchange unit. The building will provide a Health Centre of which Islanders can be justly proud. Look out for Coffee Mornings in aid of the Trust, these will be at Hotel Godolphin on Thursdays - 9th April, 14th May, 11th June and 16th July. Dr. Roy Barnes pointed out that fund raising was still important and that any donation was greatly appreciated.

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