Medical Centre, East Cowes, Isle of Wight

A new medical centre has opened in East Cowes on the Isle of Wight as part of the town’s regeneration scheme. The centre is located at Church Path near the recently completed Town Square and replaces the existing surgery located in York Road.

The new facility marks the latest phase in the regeneration of the former GKN Works at East Cowes undertaken by the South East England Development Agency and Home and Communities Agency. The centre contains the local medical practice, dental service, various clinics and a new pharmacy.

RSA Geotechnics was commissioned to carry out a desk study and intrusive site investigation by GD Partnership, the consulting engineers for the project working on behalf of the client, MedicX, a company specialising in developing healthcare centres, in partnership with the Isle of Wight Primary Care Trust.

The purpose of the investigation was to provide detailed environmental desk study research and engineering advice related to the geotechnical and geo-environmental aspects of the project. The scope of works for the ground investigation included; shallow small diameter boreholes using a percussive window sampler and deep boreholes using light- cable percussion methods. Monitoring wells were installed within the exploratory boreholes to enable a long-term assessment of the groundwater and ground gas levels.