Resolution to grant plannning permission

RNS Number : 9074N

CareCapital Group plc

08 September 2011

 



8 September 2011

CARECAPITAL GROUP PLC

("CareCapital" or "the Company")

Resolution to Grant Planning Permission

City of London to host UK's first new generation proton beam therapy centre

CareCapital is a 28.75 per cent. shareholder and a leading participant in Advanced Proton Solutions Holdings Limited ("APS"), a Jersey CI company which develops and operates cancer treatment centres using the latest technologies.

APS in conjunction with Valentine Investments Ltd ("Valentine") announces that they have gained a resolution to grant planning permission from the City of London to redevelop 35-39 Moorgate and 63-66 Coleman Street for a Proton Beam Therapy Centre, a new purpose-built health facility.  The existing office buildings on the site are substantially vacant and have reached the ends of their economic lives.

The proposed development is on four levels below ground, together with ground and seven upper floors, plus plant areas. The four levels of basement area are required as an essential part of the proton beam therapy centre and house the specialist equipment (a synchrotron) to generate the required proton beam.  The upper floors would include ancillary uses such as offices, storage, consulting rooms and treatment rooms.

An area of the Coleman Street facade is to be retained and the design of the new development will enable the building to revert to conventional office use if needed at a future date.  A self-contained ground floor retail/cafe unit is proposed at the corner of Moorgate and Great Swan Alley.

Over recent years the NHS has sent a significant number of patients abroad for proton therapy treatment at a cost of up to £150,000 per patient.  The facility will be available to NHS patients, particularly children, at significantly lower cost compared to overseas referrals.

The proposed scheme would be funded by the private sector and its services will be available to a wide range of NHS Trusts who would have access to it.  As such APS and CareCapital believe it would be a very efficient and effective way to bring this form of treatment into the UK.

The presence of the Proton Beam Therapy Centre fits with the role of London as the world's leading financial centre and will enhance its reputation and standing.  It will be a centre of international excellence commensurate with the role of the City of London as well as treating UK residents.

The proposed Moorgate location is at the centre of a cluster of world renowned medical facilities including hospitals such as Bart's, Guys, the Royal London, Moorfield, Great Ormond Street and St Thomas.  The City has always housed medical and health facilities to serve the office, resident and international populations and this is a logical and contemporary extension of that traditional role.  The service will complement rather than compete with other cancer treatment centres such as Bart's and the London Clinic which do not and will not have proton beam therapy equipment.

APS, which will operate the scheme is involved in the development and operation of Proton Beam Therapy Centres internationally.  It currently has four projects underway in the United States in partnership with major medical institutions.  The London facility is the first of a number of non-US projects with which APS is involved.

Alan Cook Consultancy is acting as development, planning and investment consultant to Valentine and the architects are Rolfe Judd, with Waterman as structural engineer and WSP as services engineer.

For further information please visit www.carecapital.co.uk or contact:

CareCapital Group	Libertas Capital Corporate Finance	Tavistock Communications
Paul Stacey, Chief Executive	Sandy Jamieson	Amy Walker
Tel: [phone]	Tel: [phone]	Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]		[e-mail]

Notes to Editors

Proton beam therapy is a type of particle therapy that uses a beam of protons to irradiate diseased tissue, most often in the treatment of cancers.  The chief advantage is the ability to localise the dosage compared to other types of radiotherapy.  The technique involves generating a beam of magnetic particles called protons which can be focused very accurately on tumours so that they receive a very high dose of radiation while the surrounding tissues are not damaged.

The development began in the 1950s at accelerator laboratories mostly associated with MIT in Boston, USA.  In the last 20 years it has expanded to hospital-based facilities but only one proton beam therapy centre exists in the UK, at Clatterbridge Hospital on the Wirral, Cheshire which can only treat up to 130 of the 1,500 plus patients a year who could benefit from this approach and is a very old system.  The proton beam therapy centre at Clatterbridge is also a low energy facility which provides the only suitable treatment in the UK for certain eye cancers as the protons only travel a maximum of 31mm.  As a result, most UK cancer patients have to travel abroad for the treatment of other forms of cancer using proton therapy treatment.

A major obstacle has traditionally been the size and cost of the synchrotron equipment that generates the proton beam but several teams throughout the world are working on the development of smaller equipment which can safely be provided within specialist health facilities in sustainable urban locations such as the City of London.

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