Worthing Borough Council taking action over WICC issues
Released: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
We're taking action to try to break through the issues that are delaying the opening of the town's state-of-the-art health centre for residents.
We commissioned developer West Sussex (Worthing) Ltd (WSWL) to oversee the design and build of the Worthing Integrated Care Centre (WICC) on what was formerly our council car park in Stoke Abbott Road.
In December 2024 WSWL's construction contractor, construction firm Galliford Try, handed over the keys to the WICC so that NHS services could start to move into the more sustainable building. As is usual for major developments like this, there was still snagging work to be completed and defects were identified.
Unfortunately, that process is proving difficult to complete, despite us doing everything we can to safely speed activity up.
When the WICC is fully operational it will be the first centre of its kind in Sussex, providing a range of NHS services on one site and allowing the community to receive better healthcare.
Dental services will be provided by Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, Worthing Medical Group will run GP services, and mental health services will be provided by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. The WICC's medical teams will be able to carry out some small-scale operations that patients would otherwise have had to go elsewhere for.
However, the new NHS tenants are still to transfer their services to the site after traces of legionella bacteria were detected in the WICC's water supply.
Although it is not uncommon for traces of legionella to be found in the water systems of new buildings, the bacteria is still being detected at the WICC more than two months after the initial discovery. We're now bringing all of those involved - the NHS tenants, Galliford Try, WSWL and our managing agent, Savills - together to encourage them to urgently find and agree a solution to the problem.
In the meantime, the delay in the NHS move means that the new tenants are not yet paying rent for the building, leaving us to meet the running costs. We are also losing out on parking income because Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust's dental services are being run from temporary buildings in the Liverpool Gardens pay and display car park.
In addition, as Worthing Medical Group has not moved into the WICC yet, we have had to pause our plans to convert the GP practices in Shelley Road and Heene Road into new council accommodation for Worthing residents with nowhere to live.
Planning work for the WICC project began in 2017. The latest delay means the cost of the WICC is now forecast to be more than £45 million, funded by borrowing by us which will need to be repaid with interest over the next 60 years. Key factors in this are a significant increase in construction costs nationally and an increase in the cost of borrowing, both of which are linked to the aftermath of the pandemic and the Ukraine war. Once the building is operational, we will take steps to trigger the agreed process to recover losses.
The neighbouring Civic Quarter multi-storey car park has opened and pharmacy group Paydens has moved into its new ground-floor unit in the building. It has a separate water supply to the NHS tenants which has not been affected by legionella.
The joint strategic committee of Adur & Worthing Councils will consider the latest update at its meeting from 6:30pm on Thursday 3rd April 2025 at Worthing Town Hall. To read the report visit:
Photo: Worthing Integrated Care Centre (WICC)
(PR25-020)
Page last updated: 28 March 2025