Northcote Community Health Centre was set up to offer the community full local services in physio and occupational therapy, podiatry, health education and counselling, as well as normal general medical and dental care usually offered.
From the outset, the aim was to make a welcoming place which would be easy to approach.
Its planning and scale offer reassurance to often troubled visitors and provides a reflection of the ethos of the cooperative organisation that runs it. The accent is on personal identity for staff and personal service for visitors. In addition, a wider presence is provided, with an activity area for the local community accessible after the rest of the building is closed.
The building makes a generous contribution to the neighbourhood, and to the idea that the restoration of health can be an unfrightening, neighbourly affair.