More than 50 years after it was first called for, and seven months after construction work finally began, a topping-out ceremony was held on the roof of Shropshire’s £46 million NHS mental health centre.

The Redwoods Centre, next to the old Shelton Hospital in Shrewsbury, is on course to open next autumn. Yesterday’s topping-out ceremony marked the completion of the building’s highest point, 16 metres above ground.

Representatives from the South Staffordshire and Shropshire NHS Foundation Trust, which is behind the centre, attended the ceremony.

Topping out is a building tradition that dates back hundreds of years.

Trust representatives, service users and representatives from building firm Bam Construction watched as a piece of yew was placed into the brickwork, symbolising the end of one chapter in the building’s construction.

Chief executive Steve Gregory, director of mental health services for the trust, said the ceremony also symbolised the modernisation of mental health care in Shropshire.

He said the Redwood Centre would have more staff working in the community than at present.

It will provide 80 adult mental health beds for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, and 23 low secure beds for the West Midlands.

Mr Gregory said the focus was to look after people in their own homes, although they could be admitted to the centre for up to four weeks. “This is a place where someone can come to be supported more intensely during a crisis period in their life.”

He said the centre was ‘a huge step, a massive step in terms of mental health services locally’.

Andrew Hughes, project director for the trust, said: “People have been talking about this replacement for half-a-century, but things have always got in the way.”

Mr Hughes added the centre was very important because one in every four people would experience a mental health problem in their lives.

Trust chairman Steve Jones described the project as a ‘25th century’ addition to the NHS.

And Richard Dakin, regional director of building firm Bam, said the project was on schedule.

He said: “The project will be completed to a very high standard and we look forward to handing over a first rate building for the people of Shropshire,” he said.

The Redwoods Centre will open next autumn.