The application relates to the land south of the former call centre in the Technology Park in Aviemore. Purchase negotiations for the land are also reaching the final stages.

Once completed, the new facility will feature a community hospital and health centre and it will bring together inpatient services with Aviemore Medical Practice, the Scottish Ambulance Service and community health and care teams.

NHS Highland’s project director for the Badenoch and Strathspey redesign, Georgia Haire, said: “This is another exciting step. The submission of the planning application signals that we are at an advanced stage in the design of the new facility and we hope to have a positive conclusion to the application process, which is expected to take 16 weeks.”

The new community hospital and Medical Practice will feature:

The new facility will also include a transport “hub at the hospital” with a drop-off area at the front entrance for commercial buses, community and local transport providers. Electronic bus timetable information will be provided both inside and outside the building.

A minimum of 128 parking spaces are proposed for patients, visitors and staff and high-quality cycle shelters will be provided near the main entrance.

The landscaping at the hospital will include a therapy garden area for local community groups, and paths through the site will encourage continued community use of the amenity space to the rear of the hospital and link with proposed active travel routes in the wider Aviemore area.

The new community hospital in Aviemore is being designed and built by hub North Scotland Ltd. Balfour Beatty is the main contractor working alongside architectural firms Oberlanders based in Edinburgh and Portree-based Rural Design – and engineering firms Waterman Group and Rybka.

The full business case for the project is scheduled to be presented to the Scottish Government in early 2019, with the construction of the hospitals commencing once this is approved.