Construction specialist Stepnell has started construction on the new Little Heath Care Home and Reablement Centre, a two- and three-storey, 64 bed care home and 24 bedroom rehabilitation facility at Earlstone Crescent in Cadbury Heath, South Gloucestershire.
Stepnell was awarded the £8.5 million scheme by care specialist Brackley Investments. The new centre, which will be operated by Bristol housing and care provider Brunelcare, will replace the former Heath Resources Centre and the former South Gloucestershire Council Newton House Care Home on the site.
Designed and built to support the specialist needs of elderly people and people living with dementia, Little Heath care home will provide 64 en-suite bedrooms, dining and servery areas, as well as shared community amenities including communal lounges, a hair and beauty salon, function room and shop, plus fitness and gym facilities.
The scheme’s connecting Reablement Centre will offer separate transitory accommodation and rehabilitation services for people leaving hospital in need of temporary step-down care before returning home. This facility will provide a further 24 en-suite bedrooms, a rehabilitation gym, shared lounge and dining facilities, and a kitchen to help residents regain their confidence and independence.
Roberts Limbrick Architects have designed the new centre to create a familiar and secure living environment for residents. The fully accessible scheme is being built to provide the best practice in care, giving residents a secure home-style environment that can still support specific individual care needs, and which can help people living with dementia live more independently.
“We are proud to be playing a part in the delivery of this much-needed care scheme which will provide exceptionally well-designed high-quality care facilities for the wider South Gloucestershire community,” says James Harris, Stepnell project manager for the development.
“Stepnell has extensive experience in delivering this type of specialist care accommodation across the country and we’re looking forward to seeing this important project progress over the next 18 months.”
Externally, the scheme will incorporate separate and secure garden spaces, including fruit and vegetable beds, sensory spaces with tactile, scented and intelligent planting schemes which residents can use and enjoy. The centre will also feature photovoltaic solar panels on the roof.
“Brackley Investments is delighted to be working in partnership with Brunelcare to develop Little Heath Care Home and Reablement Centre. Planning permission was achieved on 3 April, with construction being undertaken by our contractor Stepnell,” says Jeff Moore, Brackley Investments’ principal director.
“We anticipate handover to Brunelcare will take place during the first quarter of 2020, following completion and fit out. Brackley is looking forward to handing Little Heath over now that the site’s former buildings of Newton House and The Heath Resource Centre have been demolished.”
Kevin Fairman Brunelcare’s CEO, says: “This is excellent news in that we will be able to increase the number of care home places Brunelcare currently provides for people in the South West region by 20 per cent, along with expanding our already successful reablement service, supporting people returning home from hospital.
"The versatility of this building will enable us to offer a variety of care and support needs to meet the changing requirements of care provision going forward. This development will also provide over 100 new job opportunities, for both our existing employees and new recruits, when we recruit to run this new service.”
