A medical centre and pharmacy housed in a former foundry has been sold in a £8.5m deal.

The building in Stourbridge, which is due to start accepting patients this week, has been bought by Primary Health Properties from a private West Midlands-based developer.

The centre is one of the country's largest and has been developed from the ruins of the historic Foster and Rastrick foundry which was the birthplace of the famous Stourbridge Lion steam engine.

The grade II-listed Georgian building has been empty since 2003 but will now be occupied by the Worcester Street Partnership as the 'Lion Health Centre', encompassing 20 GP practices on a two-acre site.

The 28,000 sq ft building, which will also serve as a teaching practise and is let on a 25-year term, comprises 36 consulting rooms, nursing suite, minor surgery unit, physiotherapy suite, gym, dental practice, lecture theatre and teaching facilities.

The pharmacy is sub-let to Murrays and the car parking has space for 132 vehicles.

Primary Health Properties originally purchased the site, including the historic foundry, in 2012 and simultaneously exchanged a Development and Funding Agreement with the developer.

Property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle acted on behalf of the vendor for the deal.

Lead director in its healthcare team James Hanson said: "Over the last three years, we have seen the building, previously listed on English Heritage's 'Buildings at Risk' register, be transformed into a state-of-the-art development that will be one of the biggest in the country based on the building size, number of doctors and sheer size of the patient list.

"We are pleased that Stourbridge will soon reap the benefits of a medical centre and pharmacy within such an historic building."