Farrans Construction has been awarded the build contract for a £50m senior living village in Flitwick, Bedfordshire.
The contract from Central Bedfordshire Council is for a 72-bed care home, eight-bed short stay unit and 88 independent living apartments for the over-55s.
The core building is designed by architects Oliver and Robb and will meet dementia-friendly guidelines and the best of energy performance standards, known as Passivhaus, help reduce the local authority’s energy demands.
The scheme will also have private recreational facilities, including a shared resident-only lounge and roof gardens, alongside shared community facilities like a café, bistro, salon, function rooms and dedicated space for the use of health professionals.
The 55 one-bedroom and 33 two-bedroom apartments will be designed for accessibility and to be adaptable to changing needs.
While all apartments will be suitable for wheelchair users, five of the apartments are designed to the higher wheelchair standard as a response to the limited availability of dwellings of this type.
The apartments will be 100 per cent affordable housing, currently intended to be 50 per cent for social rent and 50% for shared ownership.
The apartment building has been designed to build a sense of community and friendship between residents and the wider community.
Each resident will have their own front door with options to access care according to their needs.
Farrans will kick off work on the site next month with the care home and independent living apartments due to complete in autumn 2023.
“We are looking forward to beginning work on site in early 2022 and continuing to build on our strong relationship with Central Bedfordshire Council, as they progress with the agenda to deliver future-proof, high quality residential facilities for older people,” said regional director Cathal Montague.
“We have recently started construction on Marigold House in Leighton Buzzard and we are approaching completion on Hendon Hall for Signature Living,” he added.
