As with the Defence facility, the NRC building was designed to fit round the patients’ rehab needs and the life they would lead when they were there. Like its Defence neighbour, the NRC will take patients on a residential basis for periods of intensive clinical rehabilitation. Its capability will be similar but with greater capacity in the neurological field and, obviously, it will have a wider patient mix. It will be the first of its kind in the NHS, embracing clinical, training and R&D elements with an annual throughput of approximately 750 patients.
The layout is a series of pavilions connected by a central spine. It ensures that patients and staff can use their days to best effect. Patients will have use of on-site gyms and healthcare facilities but will also ‘share’ specialist equipment with the DMRC such as the gait lab, hydrotherapy pool, and CAREN (Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment). Construction of the NRC started in earnest in 2023 following a period of enabling work, including the creation of its own access road off the A6006. Modern methods of construction are being used and it will be the first NHS building designed to be carbon net zero. Below are views of how things are looking now – first at ground level (April 2026):
and then from the air (September 2025):