On Friday, 28th March, the development of the University of Huddersfield’s National Health Innovation Campus (NHIC) reached a significant stage with a topping out ceremony for the Emily Siddon Building, which will be the location for our new Huddersfield Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC). The bolt-tightening ceremony, marked the completion of the highest point on the new building.

The 6,800m² facility, expected to open in December 2026, will host new purpose-built diagnostic facilities including MRI and CT scanners. The CDC will be the first on a UK university campus and will provide care closer to home with access to thousands of additional diagnostic tests, including MRI and CT scans.

Catherine Riley, Associate Director of Strategy, CHFT, attended the ceremony along with other guests which also included, University of Huddersfield Vice-Chancellor Professor Bob Cryan CBE, Professor Mark Radford, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer for NHS England, Huddersfield MP Harpreet Uppal. 

Catherine said: “The new Community Diagnostic Centre will bring diagnostic services closer to our communities, making sure people have timely access for tests such as X-Rays, CT scans and MRI’s all in a convenient location. Being in the centre of Huddersfield means that we can give greater choice to our patients and increase the number of tests we carry out and means that some people don’t even need to come to hospital at all.

“We’re already seeing fantastic outcomes for our patients at our CDC in Halifax which completes around 1,500 tests a week and has received wonderful feedback.”

Professor Cryan said: “It will be very exciting to see this building evolve over the next few months, with the promise that we will soon see and use a facility that is going to add so much to the University, but will also help to make a real difference to health outcomes in the local community as well."

Professor Radford added, “Whilst this feels like a building, it is so much more than that. It takes civic responsibility beyond investment and into intervening in communities and providing health and wellbeing services for the community around here. This requires vision and a team to think ahead, understanding what the town, health and education needs, and it takes real guts as well as money to make those changes.”

Other floors of the building, designed by architects AHR, will contain specialist clinical teaching facilities which will also be delivered in partnership with the Trust, including new course areas relating to the work of the CDC, such as Diagnostic Radiography. Work with other partners will allow for further developments, including Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy BSc which will begin September 2025.

With 280m² of photovoltaic panels, the building has been designed to meet BREEAM ‘Excellent’ standards, ensuring the facility is environmentally sustainable. Additionally, the design aims to achieve the same WELL Platinum certification as the University's Jo Cox More In Common Centre for its design and operational strategies focusing on human health and well-being.

You can read the full article on the University of Huddersfield website: Topping out ceremony for Emily Siddon Building - University of Huddersfield

The CDC at Huddersfield is part of the Foundations for our Future programme, which is our long-term plan to transform our hospital and community services in Calderdale and Huddersfield.