Highland micro apartments plan for NHS staff and students based at Raigmore Hospital
Accommodation for up to 100 hospital staff and students is being planned at Inverness Campus.
NHS Highland has submitted a planning application to build a range of micro apartments on a site next to the National Treatment Centre Highland and the Golden Bridge.
If approved, it marks the continued development of the campus which first opened in 2015 as an enterprise area, bringing together education, business, research and community uses.
It is now home to 16 commercial enterprises as well as organisations such as Inverness UHI, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), NHS Highland and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
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The application, submitted to Highland Council, also includes associated amenity space, parking and landscaping.
A supporting document submitted by 56three Architects of Edinburgh said the initial study looked at the provision of micro apartments for Raigmore Hospital on two potential sites.
It said the vacant site next to the National Treatment Centre Highland and the existing on-campus student accommodation for the UHI was recognised as the best option.
The supporting statement says: “Directly accessed from the B9006, the site is in a prime development location to provide purpose-built accommodation targeted at both short and long-term staff and students situated at Raigmore Hospital.”
The proposed development would be built across three phases and is designed to allow buildings to remain fully operational throughout the later construction periods.
The proposal includes a total of 59 studio rooms, 36 cluster rooms (12 flats) and five accessible studios.
Phase one would deliver the first 38 studios and two accessible studios.
It would also include key amenities for residents on the ground floor, including a communal kitchen, lounge, laundry, TV and dining rooms.
Phase two includes a further 21 studios, three accessible studios and the first 18 cluster rooms (six flats).
Phase three would comprise the final 18 cluster rooms (six flats), to complete the development.
The studios and accessible rooms would feature a double bed, desk space , TV, kitchenette, en-suite bathroom and dining seating.
The cluster rooms would include all but the kitchenette with the inclusion of a larger kitchen space and lounge room with bar seating, sofas, coffee table and TV.
They would be housed in two three-storey buildings, featuring black-stained timber cladding with bronze-coloured metal accents, in keeping with the existing accommodation/research buildings but subservient to the National Treatment Centre to the south.
A living wall would be incorporated on one of the blocks.
An open sheltered courtyard between the two buildings would provide a private space for residents to socialise.
The architects acknowledge the noise impact from the A9 immediately to the west of the site would need to be considered.
But they state by avoiding ‘slab’ building forms on the main frontage and placing them with the short side to Beechwood Park, they would be orientated to evade the noise from the A9.
They state: “The existing green buffer between the buildings and the A9 will also act as a shield.
“Other technical aspects, such as acoustic vents, will also be considered during the technical design stage to further mitigate this impact.”
Raigmore Hospital, which provides services to patients from across the Highlands, is also a teaching hospital, educating a range of healthcare professionals.
There have been calls including from Highlands and Islands MSP Edward Mountain for it to be replaced with a brand new acute general teaching hospital for the Highlands.
A public consultation will begin on Friday on plans for phase two of development at Inverness Campus.
HIE has appointed strategic planners Turnberry to prepare an updated masterplan for the remaining undeveloped area of the site.
There will be be a public exhibition at An Lòchran on the campus on Friday between 11am and 6pm and on Saturday between 10am and 2pm. There will be a follow-up event at the same place on February 21 between 11am and 6pm and February 22 between 10am and 2pm.
Find out more about planning applications that affect you at the Public Notice Portal.