Newsroom
We have completed our latest scheme and also handed over the first stage of our largest project to date.
Icknield Court, a 90-bed care home in Princes Risborough, is Castleoak’s second development for Housing Solutions in partnership with Buckinghamshire County Council and the Fremantle Trust. The scheme is part of the Project Care reprovisioning programme, which involves Castleoak delivering eight new care homes in Buckinghamshire over four years, up to 2011. The programme will provide almost 600 bedspaces for older people. Work is already underway at sites in High Wycombe and Wing in the county.
Icknield Court, which is on the site of a former school, is arranged into six, smaller units, each for 15 residents and comprising a sitting room, dining room, small kitchen, bathroom, toilets, individual bedrooms with en-suite shower rooms and staff room. The home also has two large communal areas, a shop/bar, a hairdressing salon, a treatment room, kitchens, a laundry and office accommodation. Outside, there are two courtyard-style gardens and lawns.
We also handed over one part of our largest scheme to date, Letcombe Regis Retirement Village for Richmond Villages, close to Wantage in nearby Oxfordshire. While the project is due for phased completion between November 2009 and summer 2010, our first task was to restore and extend the thatched Gate Lodge, using local brick and stone. It is now being used as Richmond’s marketing suite, and will be later converted into a café and shop for residents and the local people.
The Letcombe project, our second for Richmond Villages, will comprise 73 independent living units built over two storeys, a 30-bed care home, 74 care suites and communal areas including a library, a lakeside restaurant, and a wellness spa including a swimming pool, hair salon, gym and health and beauty treatment rooms. Outside, the landscaped gardens will include a bowling green and a lake, which extends into a nature reserve.
According to Customer Partnerships Director, Simon Greenstreet, the two latest completions reflect both the variety of Castleoak’s work and the consistency of our approach.
“These are obviously two very different developments, one to ensure the older people of Buckinghamshire have the care they need plus the environment they should be able to expect, and the second to meet the increasing demand for luxury retirement living,” he said.
“There is, however, a common theme linking the two projects, and it’s one which, given the current economic pressures, has never been more important for our customers – and that is delivery on time, on budget, and to the required quality standard, which is always our main objective.”