'World-beating' Sheffield NHS children’s health centre plan gets £8.8m funding
The cash is coming from the government's Levelling Up Fund
A plan to create a world-leading NHS children’s health research centre in Attercliffe, Sheffield is taking another step closer with the handover of £8.8 million funding.
Sheffield City Council is handing over £8.8m of the money that it received from the government’s Levelling Up Fund for regeneration in Attercliffe to the Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust Children’s Hospital Trust.
The National Centre for Child Health Technology is one of the cornerstones of the council’s Attercliffe Levelling Up Fund plans. As announced in February 2023, it will be built at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park.
The decision is set for approval next Monday (November 18) at a meeting of Sheffield City Council’s finance and performance policy committee.
A report to the committee says: “The CCHT project is to deliver the world’s most advanced and integrated healthcare system for children. An on-site healthcare ecosystem will bring together industry, academia, clinicians, patients and families to create high-value child healthcare products at pace.
“It will accelerate development of the Olympic Legacy Park, attracting national and international investment, creating high-value jobs, developing new companies and generating upwards of £2 billion of GVA.”
GVA is gross value added to the region’s economy.
“The CCHT directly supports the NHS Long-Term Plan, addressing regional health inequalities. The centre will deliver approximately 4,000m2 of new
health floor space and the funding will be passed to the Children’s Hospital Trust via a grant agreement.”
As previously reported, the council has already agreed to a 250-year lease of the land to the NHS trust. Building work is set to begin next month and the centre’s website, https://nationalcentreforchildhealthtechnology.com/, says the project will be delivered next year.
The centre has received a total of £22m of funding, including from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and The Children’s Hospital Charity.
Other plans for Attercliffe involve the redevelopment of the Spartan Works former steelworks on Attercliffe Road as Attercliffe Waterside, building more than 1,000 homes in a zero-carbon community next to the canal.
A new Adelphi Square will see the old Grade II listed Adelphi cinema turned into an arts complex. There are also plans to better connect the shopping area with the Olympic Legacy Park.
Another £233,000 of the Levelling Up funding will be used for ground safety works at Don Valley Bowl, improving landscaping for wildlife and contributing to local green corridors.
The total project budget has increased to £370,000.