Work starts on 100-bed specialist dementia care home

Groundworks have begun on a £10.8m specialist dementia care facility in Harrogate by Vida Healthcare.

It is expected to create up to 250 new jobs when it opens in summer 2021.

Vida Court is the third facility in the town for the company, which was established seven years ago.

The building will provide 100 bedrooms across eight individual ‘houses’ with features including a communal area designed to imitate a village environment with its own store, coffee shop, cinema, hairdresser, events room and access to outside spaces.

Designed to deliver tailored and individual care programmes, it will cater for people as young as 40 and will adopt the successful tiered design from the company’s most recent home, Vida Grange.

It will also incorporate significant workspace areas to provide a Vida Academy training centre for staff and a new headquarters facility for Vida’s head office personnel, currently located elsewhere in the town.

The company already employs 450 staff which is expected to rise to 700 next year, making it a major local employer.

Designed by Leeds-based Den Architecture, the building works will be delivered by a Yorkshire-based team comprising Projex Building Solutions, which has advised on all three Vida facilities and will provide project management, cost consultancy and health and safety advice.

The build contract will be undertaken by Caddick Construction, part of Knottingley-based Caddick Group.

Vida Healthcare managing director, James Rycroft, said: “We launched Vida Healthcare seven years ago with a view to challenging the perception and services of care homes in the UK.

“In the seven years since our first home, Vida Hall, was conceived and built, the company has enjoyed a growing reputation as providing a centre of excellence for dementia care in the UK and particularly for being able to help with very extreme or complex diagnoses.

“We look forward to working closely with the construction and build teams over the next eighteen months to deliver a facility that will demonstrate the very latest thinking in dementia care.

“Having all our team based in one place will further improve delivery of the best care possible and we hope to be able to continue to inspire and innovate both our staff and others working in the care sector when Vida Court opens next year.”

Phil Tomalin, managing director of Projex, said:  “It has been exciting to work with Vida on all three of its projects in Harrogate and see their vision of providing exceptional dementia care become a reality.

“Vida has challenged all areas of care provision to the extent that their care home environments are almost unrecognisable from outdated predecessors. It means Harrogate will continue to take a leading role in dementia care provision in this country.”

Caddick operations director Ian Plowman said: “We have made a really strong start to this project and we’re delighted to be part of the team that is bringing these much-needed dementia-focused facilities for the region.

“Dementia is a condition that affects so many families these days and this 24-hour care home will undoubtedly help their loved ones be in an environment where they feel safe and secure.”