April 24, 2020
Fiera Real Estate (Fiera), alongside its development partner Angle Property (Angle), has made its Headley Court property available to the NHS to meet their current needs. The property, which is owned jointly by two of Fiera Real Estate’s funds, will be recommissioned by the NHS into a temporary community hospital as part of the NHS coronavirus strategy.
The former military rehabilitation centre was acquired in May 2019 after the Ministry of Defence relocated, and is currently being brought forward for a mixture of housing and care facilities to create both new jobs and to meet the needs of the local community.
Headley Court has been offered to the NHS on a no cost, rent-free basis over the next six months, to help meet the local needs for health care facilities. The former medical buildings will be recommissioned to create a fully equipped temporary hospital for up to 300 patients, as well as on-site staff accommodation. The first patients are due at Headley Court on 4th May.
The creation of the temporary hospital highlights a desire by Fiera to support local communities across the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it core principle of delivering back to society across a wide range of environmental and social areas.
The two Fiera funds that jointly acquired Headley Court were the Residential Land Partnership (“RLP”), run by Fiera Real Estate in association with Schroders Real Estate and the Fiera Real Estate Opportunity Fund IV UK (“FREOF IV”) a joint venture series with CBRE Global Investment Partners (“CBRE GIP”).
Alex Price, Chief Executive of Fiera Real Estate, commented: “We are proud to be able to play our part in helping the NHS to meet the challenges it faces today. It’s fitting that a facility that has helped those who serve our country can once serve the country and the local community. Whilst our longer-term plans remain to deliver much needed housing and jobs, right now we want to help whenever and wherever we can”
Tony Williamson, Managing Director of Angle Property, commented: “As soon as the scale of the coronavirus became apparent it was obvious that our Headley Court property had the potential to offer additional hospital capacity. It has been fantastic to work in partnership with both the NHS and SCC to achieve such a rapid transformation.”
Chief Executive of Epsom and St Helier Hospital, Daniel Elkeles, said: “Over the past three weeks, this facility has been completely transformed. This has taken a huge amount of planning and hard work from multiple teams, but we are determined to do everything we can to stop the spread of COVID-19 and to ensure our patients have the very best chance of recovery. On behalf of our patients and staff, I would like to say a huge thank you for allowing us to use this facility and undertake such significant work on the site.”