Work gets underway on new Haverhill care home

Company news

Nov 25, 2013

Work has begun on Cleves Place, Haverhill’s new care home and wellbeing centre which will open at the end of 2014. Care UK’s new home on Millfields Way, which is being built by its construction partner Castleoak, will accommodate 60 residents in spacious, modern ensuite rooms and first class facilities and there will be 24 hour nursing and specialist dementia care.

Assistant Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Services at Suffolk County Council, Jenny Antill, and Care UK’s West Suffolk Regional Director, Philip Steyn celebrated the ground-breaking with Castleoak Partnerships Director Phil Andrews, construction site manager Christian Huckstep, manager at Place Court care home in Haverhill, Becky Abbink and Place Court resident Sylvia Pearce.

Assistant Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Services at Suffolk County Council, Jenny Antill, said: “It is extremely pleasing to see construction get underway on another of the new homes - Suffolk people deserve the best possible care in the best possible surroundings. Place Court was built quite some time ago and has served its community extremely well but people's needs have changed a lot over the years and therefore it is important that work begins to replace it with purpose built facilities that will help staff to deliver high quality, personalised care for many years to come.”

"The county council recognised that there was a clear need for additional dementia and nursing care accommodation in the county and made a commitment to increase capacity - by working with Care UK we are delivering on that promise."

This is the seventh of ten new care homes and wellbeing centres to get underway in Care UK’s county-wide plan which is helping fulfil Suffolk County Council’s vision for more nursing and specialist dementia care in modern accommodation, with numbers of older people and those with dementia is set to double by 2020.

West Suffolk Regional Director at Care UK, Philip Steyn, said: “This is an exciting stage in the development of Cleves Place in Haverhill, as we celebrate the start of construction on site. It is also an excellent achievement to mark the start of our seventh Suffolk development this year.”

Care UK received the green-light from St Edmundsbury Borough Council’s planning committee on 4^th July 2013 to build a new care home and wellbeing centre for 60 residents on the former Chalkestone Middle School site on Millfields Way.

As well as providing nursing and specialist dementia care services, the home will include attractive facilities such as a fully landscaped garden with sitting out areas, a café, a hairdressers and a small cinema. The generously sized bedrooms 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 design is spacious, light and airy, with many communal areas for residents to meet with family, friends and fellow residents.

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.

Residents at Place Court care home in Haverhill will have the choice to move into Cleves Place when it opens, after which the existing home, built in 1959, will close. Residents and their relatives are being consulted and kept fully informed.

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