UK group to spend €18m on Irish site

UK firm Primary Healthcare Properties is to invest €18m in the construction of a new primary care centre in Arklow, Co Wicklow.

Primary Healthcare, listed in London, said lease agreements for an initial 30-year term have been signed with the HSE and a local GP practice, which will relocate to the centre when it is complete.

The new building will extend over 5,333sqm.

The deal increases Primary Healthcare’s total portfolio to 511 assets, of which 17 are in Ireland. The assets have a gross value of just under £2.5bn (€2.78bn) and a contracted annual rent roll of £132m (€147m).

Harry Hyman, managing director of Primary Healthcare Properties, said the Arklow building is due to be completed at the end of 2021. He said it will support the HSE’s healthcare provision strategy in Ireland, and the company’s strategy of delivering modern healthcare facilities on long lease terms with a secure covenant.

Modern

“We have a strong pipeline of opportunities in the UK and Ireland and are well positioned to continue to grow our portfolio and to support the healthcare systems in these markets through the provision of modern, primary care infrastructure,” he said.

The company noted earlier this month that 97pc of rents due to it in Ireland by April 1 this year had been collected with less than €100,000 still outstanding.

Primary Healthcare was due to achieve practical completion on two projects in Ireland in April this year. One is a primary healthcare facility in Bray, Co Wicklow, which has been developed at a cost of €22.4m. Another, in Rialto, Dublin, has been developed at a cost of €13m.

Another of the company’s developments in Ireland, at Banagher in Co Offaly, is slated for completion towards the end of this year, at a cost of €5.1m.

This month, Primary Healthcare paid £47.1m to buy 20 purpose-built medical centres in England and Wales.

The acquired properties are leased to GP practices and other NHS healthcare operators and pharmacies, with approximately 91pc of the rental income being government-backed.

Primary Healthcare said the Covid-19 crisis will highlight the important role primary healthcare will play in the future.