Developed by Primary Asset, the new primary care centre in North Lancashire is a distinctive three storey building that has re-housed the two existing GP practices in Lytham (Holland House Surgery and Fernbank Surgery). The facility brings together a number of community health services, whilst also providing a base for the school and district nursing team. Services provided onsite including: x-ray, pharmacy, a number of treatment rooms and a health port to accommodate visiting mobile services such as MRI scanning and mammography.
The new centre provides a more welcoming and up-to-date environment significantly improving patient access to both primary and secondary care, with outpatient services such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, health education, mental health services, family planning. One of the main benefits of the centre is that it allows some GPs to perform minor procedures in the surgery that might otherwise have meant a visit to hospital saving the local residents a trip to hospital.
As a vital community facility, Lytham Care Centre in turn relies on 2x SGS 50 and 2x ITE 500 solar systems from A.O. Smith for their hot water needs which similarly to the centre brings the inputs of two heat sources into one system, operated by one single controller. The 12 built-on roof solar collectors transfer their heat gain into the coil of the ITE 500 to the potable water. Monitoring and controlling the solar collectors and pump station is the linked SGS water heater which maximizes the solar contribution only adding its own gas fired input where absolutely necessary but always providing the security of service.
Importantly this solar system has been equipped with an array based drain back module which prevents stagnation temperatures and the potential damage to the system, which this condition can produce. This benefit has further reduced the building’s carbon footprint by allowing the system to be turned “off” which reduces the required pump capacity and energy use of pump station to a minimum.
