Care provider, Belong, has completed the purchase of land for its first waterside care village in a move that will enable building work to commence on the £15m development later this year.
Belong was granted planning permission for the site within Peel Land and Property’s Wirral Waters scheme by Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council in 2019, and this latest milestone will see the dementia-specialist care operator going out to tender for a contractor in the summer.
The development is key to the shared vision of creating a dementia-friendly neighbourhood and, once complete, will provide a vital hub at the heart of the Wirral Waters project, with a range of inclusive spaces and facilities accessible to the local community.
Offering state-of-the-art care and accommodation for over 100 people, Belong Wirral will comprise six households with 24-hour nursing support and 34 one- and two-bedroom independent living apartments.
The village’s household model is conducive to effective infection control, with residents living in separate extended family-sized groups, and Belong Wirral will incorporate new design features to support these measures based on learnings from COVID-19.
This includes an array of outdoor spaces, such as spacious balconies for each household, and a roof garden.
The village will also offer a vibrant setting for a number of amenities, including a waterside bistro, hair salon, exercise studio and function rooms.
Commenting on the purchase of the Wirral Waters site, Belong chief executive, Tracey Stakes, said: “Wirral Waters is an exciting project to be a part of and provides an excellent location for us to create something of real benefit to the local community, both in terms of offering specialist dementia and nursing care and through generating over 140 jobs for people in the area.”
Belong Wirral will be the tenth development for the not-for-profit care provider, which currently operates villages in Warrington, Wigan, Crewe, Macclesfield, Atherton, Didsbury and Newcastle-under-Lyme, with two further sites set to open in Birkdale and Chester.