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Healthcare

Waterloo Health Centre

Actiform delivered a fully operational temporary GP practice in the heart of Waterloo for South East London Integrated Care Board — relocating the Waterloo Health Centre to Lower Marsh in time for patients to be seen without a single gap in service, and without a single blank white wall.

Expertise
  • Urgent temporary clinical facility delivery
  • Community engagement and stakeholder management
  • HTM/HBN-informed primary care fit-out
Deliverables
  • Fully operational temporary GP practice, delivered in 8 weeks
  • Community arts wrap covering the entire building exterior
  • Complete package: groundworks, planning, design, manufacture, installation & fit-out

The Waterloo Health Centre faced the sudden loss of its premises following termination of its lease, leaving the GP practice with nowhere to treat patients in the locality. A replacement facility was needed urgently — on a narrow, heavily trafficked street in the middle of one of London’s busiest community neighbourhoods — and it had to be operational before the existing site closed, so patients never had to travel elsewhere.

Challenge

Solution

  1. 01/

    Challenge

    The timeline was non-negotiable — the practice had to be fully operational from the moment the old site closed, with zero gap in patient access.

    Solution

    Actiform completed the full site programme in 8 weeks, with the practice operational by the third week of January 2024, directly aligned with the lease termination date. The complete package — from groundworks and planning submission through to manufacture, delivery, installation, and full internal fit-out — was managed end-to-end by Actiform under appointment from SEL ICB.

  2. 02/

    Challenge

    Lower Marsh — known as the “Jewel in the Crown of Waterloo” — is a vibrant, community-driven street next to Leake Street, London’s largest legal graffiti tunnel. A standard white or grey modular building would have been both aesthetically out of place and potentially a target for unsanctioned artwork.

    Solution

    Actiform engaged with local community, arts, and heritage groups — including WeAreWaterloo, SEL ICB, Southbank and Waterloo Neighbours (SOWN) — to run a community arts competition. The winning design was developed in partnership with the Business Improvement District and community interest groups, and Actiform printed a full wrap of the artwork across the entire building exterior, creating a facility that genuinely belongs to its neighbourhood.

  3. 03/

    Challenge

    Delivering modules on a narrow, busy pedestrian street with an active daily street food market required precise logistical planning and local buy-in.

    Solution

    Through close community engagement and collaborative working with local businesses, Actiform developed and implemented delivery strategies that navigated the site’s constraints without disruption. All stakeholder and community engagement was managed as part of the project scope, ensuring a smooth programme from planning through to handover.

Our Approach

Actiform took on the complete package — planning permission, building control, below-ground surveys, design, manufacture, delivery, installation, and full internal fit-out — as a single, coordinated programme. The facility was delivered partially to HTM/HBN standards, with agreed derogations in place, ensuring clinical compliance within the constraints of a temporary build.

The community-led exterior was not just an aesthetic decision — it was a genuine engagement exercise that brought local artists, residents, and community groups into the project, resulting in a building that the neighbourhood has embraced. Discussions are also ongoing with the Lambeth Horticultural Society to provide external planters as part of a local biodiversity planting strategy.

The Results

8Weeks, full site programme,

0Days of missed patient access

1Winning design

The Practice are delighted with the outcomes of the delivery of the Project accompanied with ACTIFORM meeting the specifications that had been set out by the Practice and the Practice design team. The Practice have further commented that the solution has provided a really comfortable and bright environment to work within and that the solution has attracted a lot of attention on Lower Marsh and is in keeping with the vibrancy of the immediate locality.

Malcom Brydon

NHS South East London ICB