Royal Centre for Defence Medicine
Accommodation Block
Longbridge
From This
To This
Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM)
The primary function of the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM) is to provide medical support to military operational deployments. It also provides secondary and specialist care for members of the armed forces. It is a dedicated training centre for defence personnel and a focus for medical research.
The RCDM is a tri-service establishment, meaning that there are personnel from all three of the armed services.
The military staff wear their own distinctive uniforms that vary depending on whether they are serving with the Navy, Army, or Air Force (although some wear a generic green uniform, with rank insignia, depending on the area in which they work).
The RCDM is based at the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, with defence personnel fully integrated with NHS staff to treat both military and civilian patients. The Trust also holds the contract for providing medical services to military personnel evacuated from overseas via the “Aero med service”.
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Trust have signed an agreement to supply this service to RCDM till 2045.
The Trust employs more than 6,900 staff and provides adult services to more than half a million patients every year. They provides a whole range of services including secondary services for its local population and regional and national services for the people of the West Midlands and beyond. The hospital has the largest solid organ transplantation programme in Europe. It has the largest renal transplant programme in the United Kingdom[1] and it is a national specialist centre for liver, heart and lung transplantation, as well as cancer studies. The hospital has the largest single-floor critical care unit in the world, with 100 beds, and is the home of the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine for military personnel injured in conflict zones. It is also a regional centre for trauma and burns.
A spokesman for Glancy Nicholls Architects, which designed the scheme, said: "This residential scheme is about developing serviced accommodation for the staff of the Royal College of Defence Medicine, to give them a sense of identity away from the QE and a space where the medics can recuperate from their day to day stress.
"The project includes an all ranks mess facilities, bar area, gym, office and guards site."
There are currently 350 RCDM staff working at the hospital who currently live in numerous houses scattered across the city.
The block will provide a central base for many of them and within easy reach of the Cross-City rail line which runs straight into New Street station.
Update April 2016
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and St Modwen have marked the start of construction on a new accommodation facility at Longbridge.
The facility at Longbridge is for medical specialists who treat injured military personnel at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, but also the general public at the QE.
Planning consent for the new scheme was approved last year and construction is now underway, with the first occupants due to move into their new accommodation in summer 2017.
The building will provide 180 en-suite bedrooms, catering and support facilities for medical staff based at the hospital’s Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM).
The high quality residential facility is located at the heart of St. Modwen’s £1 billion Longbridge community, and residents will benefit from a host of local amenities on the doorstep as well as excellent transport links to the hospital and Birmingham city centre.
St. Modwen, the UK’s leading regeneration specialist, is also creating foot and cycle connections between the new building and Longbridge Town Centre, by extending the existing path; which runs alongside the River Rea through Austin Park and under the A38 bridge, to the facility.
Sinead McGoldrick, DIO’s Project Manager, said:
DIO supports service personnel by providing a fit for purpose estate and accommodation so we’re happy to be undertaking this project with St Modwen. The new accommodation will be of the high quality our dedicated military medical staff deserve.
Surgeon Vice Admiral Alasdair Walker, the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Surgeon General, said:
The construction of this building is a significant step in improving accommodation facilities for staff at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine. It will provide a focal point that will develop and maintain a sense of belonging and teamwork in support of the essential medical work they undertake every day.
We are planning to choose a building name that is both a fitting tribute to those who have gone before and that recognises personnel from all 3 services working together as one team.
Mike Murray, development director at St. Modwen, said:
It is a testament to the success of Longbridge that the DIO has chosen to locate its accommodation here and invest in the area and it is exciting to see construction underway on the new facility. We very much look forward to welcoming staff to the vibrant community at Longbridge, whilst equally adding to the increasingly diverse offering we have here.
Progress on the 02 October 2016
This new facility is due to be opened in July/Aug.
Update 14 May 2017
View from the Bristol Road
View from the Road Bridge