A MULTI-million pound scheme to build a leading-edge neurological rehabilitation centre in Southampton has been given the go-ahead.

Hamberley Development, in partnership with landowners, Barker-Mill Estates and their agents Keygrove Chartered Surveyors, has scored a deal to acquire land in Southampton to construct one of the most advanced neurological rehabilitation services in the South of England.

The Inspire Neurocare centre will be located to support the nearby University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust and the University of Southampton.

The healthcare developers will also construct an 80-bed care home on the same site, to be operated by Hamberley Care Homes.

The development is set to create 160 new jobs in the city and will provide long-term care, respite and palliative care for people with brain and spinal injuries as well as complex neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease.

Hamberley has worked in close partnership with local landowners, Barker-Mill Estates and their agents Keygrove Chartered Surveyors, for seven years to obtain planning permission for the state-of-the art healthcare development.

Permission was finally granted last year which meant the deal to acquire the site, on the north-west side of Southampton, could be completed this month.

The land, on a former market gardening farm in Nursling, is also located immediately next to a new Park and Ride facility currently under construction for staff working at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, as well as a new Lidl supermarket.

Construction work on the dual-function site is due to begin in the first quarter of 2022 with planned openings in the summer of 2023.

The neurological rehabilitation facility will feature physiotherapy and medical consulting rooms together with a therapy gym fitted with state-of-the-art rehabilitation equipment including robotics and other technology assisted equipment.

The centre also includes lounges, dining rooms, cinema, a café bar and a self-contained step-down apartment.

The elderly care home will include 80 en-suite bedrooms, a spacious café bistro, a private dining room, a hair salon and nail bar, activity bar, a cinema, spacious resident lounges, dining rooms and quiet lounges.

Daniel Kay, Director at Hamberley Development, said that the Inspire Neurocare centre would set a new standard for neurological rehabilitation services in the region.

He said: “The Inspire Neurocare neurological rehabilitation service will truly be a centre of excellence that will allow us to provide much-needed complex care services for people across the South of England.

“Rehabilitation services are becoming more and more advanced and so it is vital that the appropriate environment exists to deliver these life-changing services.

"Our development will do just that. We very much look forward to working with University Hospital Southampton and the University of Southampton research and training teams."