Portway Lifestyle Centre in Oldbury triumphed in its category at the Local Improvement Finance Trust Awards (LIFT) awards, where more than 600 guests from across the public and private sectors attended the ceremony at the Hilton Park Lane in London.

Portway Lifestyle Centre beat competition from eight other schemes across the country to scoop the top prize. The project is a partnership between Sandwell Council, Sandwell Leisure Trust, Sandwell Primary Care Trust, and Sandwell Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) Company.

The centre will be one of the few of its type in the country to offer integrated health, well-being and leisure services and will open in 2011. The centre includes a sports hall, hydrotherapy pool, gym and weight area, dance studio, climbing wall and floodlit football pitches. There will also be a purpose-built doctors' surgery - Tividale Family Practice.

Sandwell Council's leader Cllr Bill Thomas said: "This award is fantastic recognition for the Portway Lifestyle Centre and the hard work put in by project partners.

"The venue will be a centre of excellence for people with disabilities as well as the wider community. It shows Sandwell can lead the country when it comes to providing state of the art facilities for all our communities."

Commenting on the award, Mike Nicklin, General Manager of Sandwell LIFTCo said: “We are delighted to have won this award with our partners, which demonstrates the hard work and dedication of both the public and private sector team to bring innovation, quality and responsiveness to this unique scheme.”

Richard Nugent, Chairman of Sandwell Primary Care Trust said: "Winning this award is a credit to the excellent partnership work that is being undertaken on the Portway Lifestyle Centre project. Sandwell Primary Care Trust is delighted to be involved in such an innovative project.

"It is an incredibly unique development, with health, well being and leisure services all under one roof and will be a tremendous benefit to everyone in Sandwell."

Ninety organisations entered the awards in 11 categories.

Lois Taylor, Chair of Board for Sandwell Leisure Trust, said: "We are delighted to be partner of Portway Lifestyle Centre project, gaining this award is testament to what an exciting new development this centre will be for Sandwell."

This year's judging panels consisted of experts from public and private sector organisations with a broad spectrum of knowledge.

Notes to editors

About LIFT

LIFT (Local Improvement Finance Trust) is a government-endorsed partnership between the public and private sectors to improve investment in healthcare in England. LIFT is a reliable long-term approach to investment that combines private sector expertise, management and investment with public sector knowledge, producing a true partnership between the public and private sectors.

About Sandwell LIFTCo

Sandwell LIFT Company Ltd. is a public private partnership which is owned by private sector partner Primary Plus (a joint venture between John Laing and Bank of Scotland), Sandwell Primary Care Trust along with Community Health Partnerships.

Karina Chilton
Marketing and Communications Manager
Primary Plus Ltd
T: 07590 010152
karina.chilton@primaryplus-online.co.uk