For three years the former Northgate House in Cornmarket in Oxford has been covered in hoardings and scaffolding.
Now, work on the £40m student hub, which includes a health centre and retail units, is almost complete, and for the first time the facade of the Cheng Yu Tung development can be clearly seen.
The former Northgate House has been demolished, with the new structure built in its place.
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King Edward Street Medical Practice, 27 Beaumont Street Medical Practice and 28 Beaumont Street GP Practice moving to the new location.
The three GP practices will be relocating to the new Northgate Health Centre, in Market Street, built by Jesus College as part of its Cheng Yu Tung Building development.
The new health centre is a 10-minute walk from the current practices and will serve a patient population of about 20,000, including students, living in or close to Oxford city centre.
The three GP practices were due to start delivering primary care services from the new health centre last month.
They will remain as independent GP surgeries but will share some facilities and space.
Construction group BAM has been working on the scheme for Jesus College.
A construction worker said it remained the 'long-term plan' for retail and hospitality units to be created on the ground and first floor.
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When work started, a number of major chains including Next and River Island moved to the Westgate Centre.
Ever since, shoppers have got used to seeing hoardings and scaffolding around the construction site but the street now looks very different after it was removed.
David Stevenson, leading the project for Jesus College, said last month: “We are looking forward to the opening of the Northgate Health Centre which will provide vastly improved healthcare services for patients and the local Oxford community.
"We are delighted to have been able to work with the three NHS practices and Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group to develop a truly exceptional design that focuses solely on patient care and better access.”
It is not yet known when new retail units will be ready to accommodate new businesses.
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The completion of the scheme will give a boost to Cornmarket, which has suffered from the closure of historic department store Boswells.
Boswells announced it would be closing in 2019 and closed early in 2020.
The building at the junction of Cornmarket and George Street is now being converted into The Store hotel.
Reef Group was given planning permission by the city council and construction work is well under way.
Eleanor Alexander, a design director leading the project for Reef, said last year the company hoped the hotel would be ready to open in the spring or summer of 2023.
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This story was written by Andy Ffrench, he joined the team more than 20 years ago and now covers community news across Oxfordshire.
Get in touch with him by emailing: Andy.ffrench@newsquest.co.uk
Follow him on Twitter @OxMailAndyF
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