THIS is the shape of things to come for healthcare in Thornhill.

These three-dimensional drawings show how the new healthcare facilities being built in the community will eventually look.

Last month bulldozers began ripping down the old clinic in Farringford Road to make way for the new £1.5m development. The demolition is now complete and the groundwork has begun on the new building.

The new clinic is a joint project between the government's New Deal for Communities, Southampton City Primary Care Trust and Thornhill Surgery.

A two-storey clinic linked to the surgery will provide one-stop healthcare for residents.

The project has been in the pipeline since 2001 when Thornhill was given almost £50m to be spent over ten years to help give the community a fresh start.

The old clinic consisted of just one room and offered limited services. It was closed in September last year in preparation for the new project, with a temporary clinic being set up at the Eastpoint Centre in Burgoyne Road.

Land for the new clinic has been leased for a peppercorn rent for the good of the Thornhill community by Dr Amrik Benning, of Thornhill Surgery.

Due to open early next year, the clinic will offer a range of healthcare services in areas including child and adolescent mental health, contraception and sexual health, speech and language therapy and dietetics and community paediatrics.

The clinic will also have two fully equipped dental surgeries, a health education room and facilities for health visiting services, including health assessments and a well baby clinic.

As part of the new building the NDC is funding a community arts project to be installed on one of the exterior walls of the clinic.

Artist Joanna Dewfall has been commissioned to work with eight community groups to design and make a mosaic depicting the heritage and history of Thornhill, with the group working on one panel each, reflecting what is important to them.

Project co-ordinator Kirsty Ball said: "I am really looking forward to the community workshops and involving local people in the design and making process of the mosaic.

"I hope to engage and represent as many sectors of the community as possible."

Anyone wishing to participate in one of the mosaic workshops, which start next month, should contact Kirsty Ball on 023 8091 5812.