Capital & Regional signs agreement with Whittington Health NHS Trust for the first of 40 new Community Diagnostics Centres nationally. The new NHS concept at The Mall Wood Green reflects further progress in community shopping centre strategy execution.

Capital & Regional has signed a 15 year lease agreement with Whittington Health NHS Trust to open a state of the art Community Diagnostics Centre (“CDC”) at The Mall, Wood Green. It is the first of 40 new CDCs that will be opened across England by the NHS in a range of settings, from local shopping centres to football stadiums, allowing patients to benefit from earlier diagnostic tests closer to home.

For Capital & Regional’s portfolio as a whole, the new partnership with the NHS Trust marks another significant step forward in the Company’s community shopping centre strategy, which aims to provide its local catchments with convenient, needs based access to tailored goods and essential services, depending on their specific requirements.

The new CDC will initially offer x-ray, ultrasound, ophthalmology and phlebotomy services to local people, with future plans to increase the range of services that can be offered on site. The initiative forms part of the NHS’s Long Term Plan, as well as the national NHS England and NHS Improvement’s programme to help accelerate recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on routine diagnostic testing. It will open at The Mall Wood Green in summer 2022 across two ground floor units, which are being amalgamated into a single circa 5,500 sq ft space, creating a new facility that will further drive footfall and increase The Mall’s throughflow of visitors.

Two additional new lettings have also been secured at Wood Green, where Thérapie Clinic has signed a 10 year lease on a 1,650 sq ft ground floor unit and Indian street food restaurant Chaiiwala will open at a 1,500 sq ft unit having signed a 10 year lease. All three leases have collectively been secured at above previous passing rents.

Lawrence Hutchings, CEO of Capital & Regional, commented, “This partnership with Whittington Health NHS Trust is the beginning of an exciting long term relationship for us both and marks another significant step forward in the execution of our community shopping centre strategy, realising a whole new set of services at Wood Green that have the potential to be replicated across the portfolio.”

Emel Ahmet , Leasing Executive for Capital & Regional added, “Through this agreement, the NHS Trust has recognised the strength of the location we offer, together with its accessibility by public transport, our community-centric mission and the role health services can play in attracting additional footfall through town centres, benefitting the local economy. We’re looking forward to the opening of the new diagnostics centre next summer alongside the ongoing improvement to the breadth of services, retail and restaurants on offer at The Mall.”       

Siobhan Harrington, Chief Executive of Whittington Health NHS Trust, said, “The centre at The Mall, Wood Green brings diagnostic services right to the heart of the Haringey community. We are delighted to be working with Capital & Regional, NHS Partners and the council to bring these new services to North Central London residents and we look forward to developing the centre in the next year.”

This story was recently covered in by the Evening Standard in an interview with Lawrence Hutchings. 

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