A leading UK care provider is planning to open a home in Coventry which will provide specialist care for adults with complex needs.
Exemplar Health Care has tabled a planning application to build the new home on the current site of the derelict St Nicholas Church in Radford.
The specialist 36-bed care home is expected to create around 100 jobs for local people and has been designed to replicate the character of the locally listed church.
Midlands-based Deeley Construction has been appointed to complete the development which has been designed by Watson Batty Architects.
The three-storey home will feature facilities to support the delivering of nursing care, dining rooms, quiet rooms and lounge areas on each floor.
It will also include a residential therapy room and entrance hub with meeting areas for relatives visiting the home.
A new sensory garden will be provided as part of the proposals, providing a communal space for residents to enjoy. The home will also see a 24-space car park, with the addition of six new parking spaces for the existing parish hall building.
Exemplar Health Care has over 40 care homes across the UK and an established reputation of delivering quality outcomes for people living at their homes by partnering with NHS commissioners and social care funders.
Charlotte Lloyd, Director of Commissioning at Exemplar Health Care, said: “As well as providing over 100 employment opportunities, there are plans in place to integrate the new care home into the local community. It’s our ambition is for the home to be a place where we host events, and where our residents can be part of the community, whether through work placements, local events or volunteering.”
St Nicholas Church is in a state of disrepair and due to the increasing costs of work required to refurbish it will be demolished to make way for the new care home.
The congregation in Radford hasn’t used the church building for more than 10 years after it was deemed unsafe, instead utilising the neighbouring parish hall for services.
This is the third development in which Exemplar Health Care has partnered with Coventry-headquartered Deeley Construction, which is part of Deeley Group.
Eleanor Deeley, Joint Managing Director of Deeley Group, said: “There is a need in the city for a facility where care providers, such as Exemplar Health Care, can support the NHS by catering for adults with complex needs - and we are pleased to be continuing our partnership with Exemplar Health Care to deliver on that need.
“This is an excellent development which will see the replacement of a dangerous and derelict church - which has been marketed and had no interest - with a facility for the local community which will provide vital care and important jobs for people in the city.”