HOW I DID IT B
anning Dental Group was established to provide something we believed was missing in the UK dental market, to become a bridge between NHS and private dental treatment.
Having realised there was a chronic shortage of accessible, quality dental care to meet today’s patients’ needs, we wanted to offer a range of high-end treatments in an environment patients would expect to find in a private practice, but at an affordable cost.
The group was set up to provide all major dental specialist treatments in-house, inspired by the values of Scandinavian healthcare.
We opened our first practice in Brentford, west London, which was a completely new project for us as well as for the builders and designers involved, and there was a lot to learn.
Since then, and as we open our seventh practice with more to come, we are at the stage where we have the perfect practice blueprint in which to replicate our winning formula.
THE PRACTICE
Our new dental centre in London’s Blackfriars is the latest step in Banning Dental Group’s ambitious growth strategy and is designed to be the company’s flagship practice.
It was originally an empty commercial shell with just under 3,000 square feet of space. Although this was a suitable size for a practice, we decided to add a mezzanine floor, taking it closer to 5,000 square feet.
This gives us nine treatment rooms, including one for our Skin Clinique centre for face and body aesthetics, as well as a state-of-the-art
in-house dental laboratory in association with Zirkonzahn – the first dental laboratory using Zirkonzahn products in a dental practice setting in the UK.
Our enduring aim is to create a very different type of dental practice and move away from small rooms, lack of natural light and closed off spaces. For Blackfriars, instead of using a traditional dental design company, we approached Remarcable Design – interior designers specialising in office and retail space – and asked them how they would envision a dental practice to look.
The team asked us: ‘Why do dental practices have to be scary places? Why do they have so much closed space? Why have the reception desk hidden away?’
To which our reply was: ‘Okay, let’s change all that!’
We knew this approach would cost several times more than what other new clinic owners would spend. But changing perceptions of UK dentistry, which is our mission, starts with dental professionals changing their views of contemporary dentistry.
THE PRACTICE
ADDRESS: Banning Dental and Skin Clinique Blackfriars, 9 St George’s Circus, London SE1 8EH PHONE: 020 3325 3250
EMAIL: blackfriars@banningdental.co.uk
WEBSITE: www.banningdental.co.uk
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PRACTICE DESIGN
THE BUILD
We began negotiations to buy the freehold of the property in autumn 2019, but we first needed to obtain planning permission to install the mezzanine floor. This was a lengthy process, but we finally took ownership in December 2021.
Building the mezzanine floor and staircase was a big project and a big investment for us. We used Landmark Building and Property Services for the build that ran from January to November 2022.
Installing an extra floor allowed us to have our dental laboratory and offices upstairs, leaving the clinical services including surgeries, CBCT, decon and treatment coordinator rooms fully accessible to patients on the ground floor.
We appointed Stephen Green & Associates as radiation protection advisers to carry out a full assessment of our planned X-ray units and surgery/imaging rooms, and to advise on which walls needed to be lead-protected or otherwise.
Our bespoke dental cabinetry came from Modwood. Dentsply Sirona supplied and fitted nine Intego and Sinius dental chairs,
PRACTICE DESIGN
customised to our exact specifications including intraoral cameras and Banning’s trademark black upholstery and red stitching.
The team from Henry Schein Dental, and our main contact, Christopher Kriek, were an integral part of the project from start to finish. Henry Schein supplied all the equipment and provided on-site training. They also helped to project manage the design and build to ensure everything was fitted and installed correctly.
Chris and his team had previously worked with us on our Leighton Buzzard practice, and understood our ambitions, objectives and ethos. They worked hard to find solutions to fulfil our mission. They always put the right people on the job in hand, and helped other companies involved who had not worked in dental before to gain more experience and understand what needed to be done.
We installed Exact, the practice management software we use, from Software of Excellence, a Henry Schein company, with Microminder providing IT support.
THE ETHOS
The pioneering new practice in Blackfriars is Banning Dental Group’s most ambitious project yet. Banning Dental Group aims to change the private dentistry landscape by providing quality treatments to all that need it, not just the privileged few.
Banning Dental Group’s intention is to provide all major dental specialist treatments in-house and under one roof by GDC-registered professionals. The team strongly believes in a multidisciplinary approach, so patients experience complete care from start to finish without outside referral.
By offering a salon-style atmosphere, Banning allows patients to feel calm and relaxed, rather than overwhelmed with trepidation. Banning Dental Group has invested heavily in cutting-edge digital dental technology, allowing for an entirely digital workflow for many treatments. By being well equipped, the team is more streamlined, efficient, and capable of offering outstanding patient care.
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CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF UK DENTISTRY, WHICH IS OUR MISSION, STARTS WITH DENTAL PROFESSIONALS CHANGING THEIR VIEWS OF CONTEMPORARY DENTISTRY
PRACTICE DESIGN
THE RESULT
A key strand in the Banning Group growth model has always been to invest in marketing our practices using our own in-house marketing team.
With Blackfriars being our flagship practice, our strategy is to focus on its central London location, being conveniently situated within walking distance of Waterloo, Elephant and Castle and Blackfriars mainline stations and several tube stations.
The finished result is a practice with a calm, relaxed and welcoming atmosphere with spacious surgeries and waiting rooms with plenty of natural light.
It is a part of our ambitious plans to keep all major dental and specialist services under one roof while ensuring we provide the highest quality treatment to our patients, but at a cost that is affordable to them.
The corner location of the practice gives us additional frontage and ways to attract new patients. At night, we open the blinds on the ground floor with a spotlight on the dental chairs so passersby can have full view of the state-of-the-art treatment rooms.
We believe this also helps to reduce the anxiety that many patients feel about visiting the dentist.
Our practice is open seven days a week from early morning to late evening, offering flexible and accessible care to our clients in a welcoming environment where patients can relax and receive an exceptional service from our highly trained, friendly team.
This is why Banning Group’s practices have close to 2,000 five-star reviews, showing that patients simply love the Banning experience and everything that comes with it.
COMPANIES AND EQUIPMENT INVOLVED IN THE PROJECT
Dental construction and build Landmark Building and Property Services lbpservices.co.uk
Dental equipment
Henry Schein Dental hsdequipment.co.uk
Dental chairs
Dentsply Sirona dentsplysirona.com/en-gb
Practice management system
Software of Excellence softwareofexcellence.com/uk
Website developer
R Media r-media.co.uk
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