A new £14million state-of-the-art healthcare centre will be built at the Braid Valley Hospital site on the Cushendall Road, Ballymena.

Scottish company Gareth Hoskins Architects, with Keppie Design, have submitted the plans for the amenity and the project was featured in last month's specialist magazine, Architects' Journal.

The designers were appointed through the PCCI Framework for Northern Ireland Health Estates.

It is hoped the new facility, which will include general practitioner services, will be ready to open by 2013/14.

As well as GPs, the centre will also provide podiatry, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, diagnostics, dental, children's services, mental health services and a range of acute outpatient and community clinics.

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The new building will have an eye-catching position along the street front with departments split across two floors and organised around an internal atrium and an open courtyard, with a third floor housing offices.

The main diagnostic suites, including x-ray, physiotherapy and dentistry, are arranged on the ground floor opposite children's services and pharmacy and community areas.

The first floor is divided into two zones. The first groups seven GP practices around the central atrium, alongside a large shared treatment department. The second accommodates a suite of sessional outpatient and mental health departments.

The centre has been one of the top priorities for local political representatives in recent years.

At January's monthly meeting of Ballymena Borough Council, Northern Local Commissioning Group member Tommy Nicholl said the facility remains a priority for the Northern Health and Social Care Trust.

(BMcC/GK)