Monday August 5th 2019
Spire Hospital within Shawfair Hospital
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
A £7.5million women’s health centre and state of the art dental practice will create more than 50 jobs when it opens at Shawfair Business Park, Midlothian.
The planned centres will be linked and operate alongside the Spire Hospital, which is already on the site at Old Dalkeith Road.
Applicants Genus Medical who are owned by Dr Karolina Skorupskaite, a specialist in fertility and reproductive medicine, say the aim of the new centre will be “to provide unsurpassed medical and dental facilities which would be unrivalled in Scotland.”
They said: “The aim is to create a facility which is as accessible as possible for the prospective clientere and would serve Scotland as a whole as a pioneering medical and dental facility.”
Midlothian Council has granted planning permission in principle for the development which it says will create 53 full time jobs across both centres.
Genus Medical said it looked at a number of sites for the new centres including converting current buildings in Edinburgh city centre or Murrayfield, but believed Shawfair was tbe best option and a brand new building was required.
A move into Edinburgh’s BioQuarter was not pursued because the area was considered to be more about research and developments in medical science rather than treatment.
Genus said women’s health and dentistry were two areas which face an increasing demand but suffer from funding and staffing difficulties in the National Health Service.
Making a case for their new facility, they said the new Centre of Excellence in Women’s Health and Reproduction, will provide first class gynaecological and fertility practice for women and girls from the time they become sexually active through the menopause.
It said: “Genus will focus exclusively on the unique health care needs of women.”
And it points out that fertility rates in Scotland have fallen to the lowest in the UK and are declining steadily.
The Centre of Sustainable Dentistry in Edinburgh, as the new centre will be called will bring the latest dental practices to its clients with state of the art digital equipment along with traditional services.
Images of the new building show two wings, one for each centre with a central glass atrium and lobby which will take up 2,600 square metres of space.
The architecture is described as “unashamedly modern”.
Approving the application planning officers said that while it was not compliant with policy it is “on-balance” acceptable use of the site.
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