Wood Green Community Diagnostics Centre

Capital & Regional signed a 15-year lease agreement with Whittington National Health Service (NHS) Trust to establish a state-of-the-art Community Diagnostics Centre (CDC) at The Mall in Wood Green. It is the first of 40 new CDCs opened across England by the NHS in a range of settings since 2022, from local shopping centres to football stadiums, allowing patients to benefit from earlier diagnostic tests in more convenient locations.

The new CDC increases the diagnostic capacity across North Central London as part of a national NHS England and NHS Improvements programme to help accelerate recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on routine diagnostic testing.

The new facility finds its home on the ground floor and basement level of The Mall in Wood Green, a community shopping centre owned by Capital & Regional. Jensen Hughes played a role in designing the fire strategy for several areas within The Mall, ensuring they were suitable for accommodating this new space/or new diagnostics centre.

The project encompasses a multifaceted development plan for the ground floor units, providing a comprehensive array of diagnostic services, including x-ray facilities, specialised ophthalmology rooms, a phlebotomy room for blood sampling, and consultation areas.

Integrating a healthcare facility within a shopping mall brought significant fire safety design challenges. Our team worked closely with both the end user and the mall management to develop a robust evacuation strategy, prioritising the safety of all occupants, particularly individuals who might encounter difficulties evacuating independently during a fire emergency.

Another challenge involved the smoke control design of the new facility. Jensen Hughes thoroughly reviewed the existing smoke control design for the shopping centre and provided recommendations that ensure the new facility does not impact the control system serving the existing mall areas.

We feel privileged to have been a part of the Phase 1 Community Diagnostics Centre.