Care provider completes purchase of riverside site for £15m scheme
Not-for-profit care provider, Belong, has acquired land for its first waterside care village, within Peel Land and Property’s Wirral Waters scheme.
The move that will enable building work to start on the £15m development later this year, leading to the creation of more than 140 jobs.
Belong was granted planning permission for the site 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, the village 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 more than 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 wider community will have access to Belong’s home care service, Belong at Home, in addition to support and advice from its dementia specialist, Admiral Nurse team.
The village will also offer a vibrant setting for a number of amenities, including a waterside bistro, hair salon, exercise studio and function rooms.
Belong chief executive, Tracey Stakes, said: “We are thrilled to be entering the next stage of our Belong Wirral development.
“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.”
Richard Mawdsley, Peel L&P’s director of development for Wirral Waters, said: “We are delighted to have Belong Villages as a partner for the quayside care village at Northbank in Wirral Waters.
“With the other neighbouring housing projects, Wirral Waters will start to create a thriving and diverse community.
“The Belong Village will offer an incredibly vibrant and versatile environment for residents to enjoy, whatever their needs or abilities, and we are really excited to be working alongside them on this project.”
Belong Wirral will be the 10th development for the 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.
