Plans approved for new Ipswich care home and wellbeing centre at Alnesbourn Crescent

Company news

Aug 15, 2013

The second new care home to be built in Ipswich has been given the green light by Ipswich Borough Council’s Planning and Development Control Committee. The site in Ravenswood, Ipswich will be the new location for a state-of-the-art residential care home, and wellbeing centre offering day care clubs and activities for older people who live independently in the wider community.

The new home to be built in Ipswich by Care UK will accommodate 80 residents and will provide nursing as well as residential care. Following positive feedback after a display of the care home plans at a community consultation event in March 2013 at Ravenswood Community Centre, the development project was given approval by Ipswich Borough Council’s Planning and Development Control Committee on 24^th July.

Chris Hopkinson, Regional Operations Director at Care UK, said: “We are delighted that planning approval has been granted for the new care home in Ravenswood, Ipswich. This new home will take a further step towards addressing the shortage of specialist nursing and dementia care places in Suffolk. ”

Cllr Alan Murray, cabinet member for health and adult care, said: “I am pleased that plans for the new home have been approved. Care UK can now set about delivering a new home for the Ipswich area, which will support the delivery of high quality care to Suffolk people.

We remain committed to ensuring that Suffolk residents can access the care they need in purpose built facilities. This new home and the others being developed across the county will help us deliver on our promise.”

Construction on the Alnesbourn Crescent site in Ravenswood, Ipswich is due to begin in October 2013, with the opening date scheduled for winter 2014. Following the opening of the new home, Sidegate Lane and Crabbe Street care homes in Ipswich will close and residents of both homes will have the option to move into the new home or the other home being built in Chantry, Ipswich. 

Care UK’s construction partner for the new build will be Castleoak, a highly regarded company that works exclusively in the care sector. The design of the new care home in Ravenswood will provide nursing care and specialist dementia care services, and will have a spacious, light and airy design with many communal areas for residents to meet with family, friends and fellow residents. There will be generously-sized bedrooms, which are all ensuite with shower facilities, and, to give a homely feel, small groups of residents will share their own dining room and lounge. The new home also has a garden and sitting out area and attractive facilities including a café, hairdressers and a small cinema.

The wellbeing centre will provide day care activities and clubs which will help older people to maintain their independence for longer in their own homes and give valuable respite services for family carers.

The planning approval for the new care home at Alnesbourn Crescent in Ipswich is the latest successful application in what will be a carefully coordinated and phased £60 million investment programme by Care UK in ten new care homes and ten wellbeing centres in the county between now and 2016. The first planning application was approved in January for a new care home and well-being centre in Chantry, Ipswich, with the second in Mildenhall in February and the third at Davers Court in Bury St Edmunds. The most recent new care home and wellbeing centre development to be given planning approval, other than in Alnesbourn, is the Chalkstone development in Haverhill.

On 1st December 2012 Care UK took over responsibility for Suffolk County Council’s existing sixteen residential care homes and eight wellbeing centres, welcoming over 500 residents. At the same time over 900 former Suffolk County Council employees transferred on their existing terms to be part of the Care UK team.

By 2016 the new homes and wellbeing centres will replace all Suffolk County Council’s former homes and wellbeing centres which date mainly from the 1960s and 1970s.

For further information visit www.careuk.com/suffolk-new-homes or call 0333 321 0956.