Work on a new £13.5 million health centre, that plans to include a GPs and minor injury unit has begun with a ground-breaking ceremony.

The new Edenbridge Memorial Health Centre, that is combining services from Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT) and Edenbridge Medical Practice, plans to include outpatient services, therapies and social prescribing.

Designed to be sustainable and fit in with the local environment, the new centre will include a memorial garden area for conservation with an emphasis on the health, wellbeing and lifestyle services that will be available under one roof.

The NHS, local council and development/construction partners joined together with local people and Tonbridge and Malling MP, Tom Tugendhat, for the ground-breaking ceremony on the site of the development in Four Elms Road, Edenbridge on Friday, May 13.

Plans also include community space and rooms for patients of the new centre.

The development provides a 2,180 square metre of clinical and community space, along with parking and landscaping, with construction due to complete in Autumn 2023 and the group, gbpartnerships, has been appointed as the development partner to lead the project.

John Goulston, Chairman of KCHFT, said: “I am delighted we have reached the next phase of the Edenbridge Memorial Health Centre project.

“So much work has gone on behind the scenes to reach this point, and I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has been involved and helped us get here.

“This stage of the development is the exciting part as begin to see the tangible results of the hard work and I’m sure we will all agree, our NHS partners and other organisations who are involved, that we cannot wait to see the construction begin and the finished building when it is complete next year.”

KCHFT will be sharing updates throughout the construction process here.