Assura announces financial close on £25m NE scheme

Jonathan Murphy

Healthcare property group, Assura, has reached financial close on a £25m scheme in Northumberland.

The Warrington-based business is now on site with 16 developments with a total development cost of £128m, which compares with a cost of £97m in December 2021, it said in an update to the stock exchange today.

The Northumberland development is the Northumbria Health and Care Academy in Cramlington, which will be let to Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation on a 30-year lease.

It is located on undeveloped land at the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital and will provide a training centre of excellence, clinical space for a range of community health services, as well as conference and administrative space.

The academy is expected to achieve a BREEAM rating of Excellent and an EPC of A, and is aiming to become the UK’s first Gold accredited healthcare sector building under the IWBI WELL Building Standard.

Assura is expecting an 18-month build period with completion by the fourth quarter of 2023.

Jonathan Murphy, Assura CEO, said: “Working with the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, we know this academy in Cramlington will make a real difference to people in the area.

“This scheme further demonstrates our strategy in action expanding our offering, working with NHS Trusts to develop high quality and thoughtfully designed buildings that facilitate better health provision for their community, and helping deliver positive sustainability and social impact outcomes.”

In November last year Assura published strong interim results, and raised £182m to fund further growth.

Interim results for the group showed net rental income of £61.1m for the period to September 30, 2021, compared with £54.5m at the same point in 2020.

Pre-tax profits were £69.3m, compared with £43.8m 2020.

The portfolio increased six per cent to £2.595bn as at September 30, 2021, compared with £2.453bn at March 2021.

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