The construction of UK aeromedical provider Midlands Air Ambulance Charity's new combined airbase and headquarters facility has recently been completed following a four year project period that included feasibility research, ground works and overall development of the building. The charity operates and funds three air ambulances covering Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands.

The new facility, based in Shropshire near the borders of Staffordshire and the West Midlands, will help future-proof the advanced pre-hospital emergency service operated by the charity. It houses the head office function, airbase, clinical operations and community education zone. The building is equivalent to the size of two football pitches, with the whole site sitting on 22 acres.

It also houses a training simulation suite within its centre for clinical excellence, supported by The Kildare Trust, that enables the charity's critical care clinicians to practise their specialist skills in an immersive environment. The fully interactive room uses virtual reality and real-world content to create a diverse range of situations that can be used to simulate accidents or incidents specific to the pre-hospital environment.

As part of the charity's commitment to sustainability, the new facility sees the organisation offset part of its carbon footprint. It has energy efficient features including solar panels across parts of the roof and air source heat pumps. The charity has also committed to planting 10,000 trees in the local area to further offset its footprint.

CEO Hanna Sebright says: "Our new airbase and headquarters is a significant milestone in our charity's 32 year history and is critical to us achieving our mission to continue to provide patients of the Midlands with outstanding pre-hospital care and lifesaving intervention. As well as making our organisation more resilient to the changing economic landscape, our new facility will also allow us to realise our ambition to become a pre-hospital centre of clinical excellence.

"We are delighted that our clinicians and non-clinical staff are now able to work out of the same building, as one team, in this wonderful new facility."

The building has been constructed from 90,000 bricks, one third of which were donated by local firm Ibstock Brick. It has taken 2,000 litres of paint to decorate the internal areas, and more than 1,000 people have been directly involved in the construction.