Video: How far construction work has come in the past year (Credit: DNRC)
Work on the new £300m national rehabilitation centre for injured servicemen and women started exactly one year ago.
South Nottinghamshire’s Stanford Hall is being transformed into the state-of-the-art Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC) and will open next year.
Soldiers injured in conflict will receive specialist treatment there after being treated at field hospitals and the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, based at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
The unique facility will allow patients to be treated in purpose-built facilities and benefit from the world-leading expertise of UK military medics.
Video: Artist impressions of how the completed work is expected to look (Credit: DNRC)
The DNRC will replace the pre-existing military defence centre at Headley Court, Surrey, which has been around for 70 years.
The initiative was thought up by the former Duke of Westminster, Major General Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, who had previously worked in the military and identified Stanford Hall as the ideal location for the new site because it is four times larger than Headley Court.
Speaking in March, project director Mark Green said: “The structural frame for the lower limbs gym, the tall single-storey frame, has been completed.
“The operation that is ongoing is the installation of the metal decking that will form the roof.
“The pool room has a very impressive frame at the moment with a high ceiling to give that wow factor and this structure will hold a six lane, 25 metre pool which will be fitted out with hoists.
“There will be treadmills and whirlpools at the far end too.”
The complex trauma and ward block is further advanced in its development.
Mark said: “Looking down the corridor, we are ready for the plasterboard ceilings to be put in place.
“We are currently working on the fire protection works which is sealing around the penetrations through the walls.”
A series of ‘back to life’ buildings are also on the road to completion.
Mark said: “When it’s completed, it will be a small terrace of three domestic houses in which patients and family members can work together to understand how they can deal with the practicalities of domestic living.
“The steel frame is ongoing and when it’s complete, it will be netted ready for the roof installation.”
