New £2.65m child protection facility on Tayside

A new £2.65m child protection unit for Dundee is to be built at Kings Cross Hospital. It will replace the existing unit at Seymour Lodge and house staff involved in child protection from the city council’s social work department, Tayside Police and NHS Tayside.

Council social work director Alan Baird, in a report, said the increasing demands and continuing development of child protection services meant the present unit had outgrown the Seymour Lodge facility.

“The existing building has been assessed for its capacity to continue to deliver the expanding services of child protection in Dundee,” he said.

“It is at capacity in terms of personnel accommodation available, storage and development of client services, thus offering no opportunity for service developments to be accommodated.”

Refurbishment of Seymour Lodge has been ruled out because it is a listed building with limited interior space and little room for expansion on the site.

The preferred option is to build a new unit on a site at Kings Cross Hospital, which will require the demolition of Ward 6.

“A review of sites available, through all partners, concluded this to be the most suitable in terms of access, availability, affordability and suitability,” Mr Baird said.

“The £2.65m capital expenditure to prepare the site and finance the build will be shared equally between the three partners.”

Running costs are estimated at £93,000 a year and these will be met by the city council (42.5%), Tayside Police (41.6%) and NHS Tayside (just under 16%).

Councillor Jim Barrie, convener of the social work and health committee, said, “The fact that officers from the three agencies are working from the same base means that an effective service can be delivered.

“Information can be shared more easily among police, health and social work.

“All agencies are committed to providing the best possible protection of children in Dundee, but they recognise that Seymour Lodge is too small to help in the development of services in the future.

“The new unit is certainly something that the city council wants to push ahead with, given its importance in child protection.

“It is hoped it will be up and running by April next year.”