WORK is expected to start next month on a £9m health centre in Lindley.

Health chiefs are tomorrow to discuss the plans and are expected to give the go-ahead to start conversion work on historic Acre Mill, Lindley, to provide a 21st century state-of-the-art healthcare centre.

And it will provide facilities for some 200,000 outpatients who currently visit the Royal Infirmary across the road, and Calderdale Royal Hospital.

The first patients are likely to be from the ear, nose and throat departments, along with medical outpatients and paediatrics.

Later there will be clinics for ophthalmology, dermatology, gynaecology and ante-natal patients.

It is a key moment in the history of one of Huddersfield most iconic buildings.

Acre Mill was a steel wire mill formerly owned by Joseph Sykes and Sons.

It was regarded by locals as the biggest mill in the world as it went three-quarters of the way round the “Globe” – the name of the pub now known as The Nightingale.

NHS trust board members will debate the plans tomorrow.

The Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust acquired the building in 2003 and has teamed up with Henry Boot Developments to develop the site as a Joint Venture.

The £9m funding for the joint project has come from Henry Boot Developments with the trust providing the land.

Work is likely to start in the New Year to renovate and bring the old listed mill building back into use.

The historic listed landmark building and its surrounding grounds will be restored sympathetically to their former glory.

Following the initial work it is then planned to develop the site into a new outpatients centre. There are around 200,000 outpatient appointments every year and these are currently in clinics in different locations in the main hospital.

There will also be plans for a new 200-space permanent car park, with an ambulance drop-off area.

The Pennine Property Partnership is an innovative collaboration between Henry Boot Developments and the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, created to provide new accommodation for the trust.

The partnership is also marketing the huge former St Luke’s Hospital site in Crosland Moor.