Final funding announced for 'first of its kind' National Centre of Child Health Technology at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park

The development of the NCCHT is expected to generate £2.13bn cumulative Gross Value Added to the region over ten years, as well as creating 84 high-value jobs within the Centre and support a further 5,100 jobs throughout Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park.

Mr Coppard said: “I’m committed to making South Yorkshire the healthiest region in our country. That has to start by giving children the best start in life. The NCCHT’s research will help to drive significant improvements in child health, which must be a priority, particularly for places like South Yorkshire.

“I’m really excited that our region will be home to a project that is the first of its kind, that will improve the health and lives of young children - not just in our communities, but across the country.

Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is developing the centre in partnership with Sheffield City Council and property regeneration and placemaking specialist, Scarborough Group International..

Plans for the NCCHT include workshops and clinical spaces, with work focusing on developing technologies to address key national strategic priorities in child health. These include prevention and health inequalities, children's mental health, obesity, long term conditions, children's cancer, and children's disability.

Comprising 42,000 sq ft of floor space the Centre will also include the Advanced Rehabilitation Centre, a centre for immersive technologies and robotics and a healthy living and prevention centre.

The space is also set to include a state-of-the-art test bed facility for rapid technology assessment in real-word settings, an advanced telecommunications centre and facilities for business growth, development and knowledge transfer.

The Centre will join a portfolio of health and wellbeing research facilities at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park, including two Sheffield Hallam University venues - the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre and the National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering, alongside the Park Community Arena, developed by Canon Medical Systems.

The project has been positively welcomed by organisations including Google, AWS, Canon Medical, BT, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

Prof Paul Dimitri, Professor of Child Health and Director of Research and Innovation at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The development of the National Centre for Child Health Technology has been cited by industry partners as a global first. It is set to develop the most advanced therapies in the world through digital and technology development for children and young people.

"“The current pandemic has brought some challenging child health issues back into stark focus – childhood obesity, mental health, access to healthcare for children with complex health needs and collectively the need to ensure that we protect children as they develop. develop. The National Centre for Child Health Technology will play a central role in ensuring that we advance the way we develop sustainable and transformational healthcare and drive prevention for children to ensure the future is bright.”