Belong has successfully completed the purchase of land for its first waterside care village within Peel Land and Property’s Wirral Waters scheme, in a move that will enable building work to commence on the £15m development later this year.
Belong was granted planning permission for the site by Wirral Council in 2019 and this latest milestone will see the dementia specialist care operator going out to tender for a contractor in the summer.
Once complete, the village will provide a vital hub at the heart of the Wirral Waters project, with a range of inclusive spaces and facilities accessible to the local community.
Belong Wirral will comprise six households with 24-hour nursing support and 34 one and two bedroom independent living apartments. The village’s household model is conducive to effective infection control, with residents living in separate extended family sized groups.
Belong Wirral will incorporate new design features to support these measures based on learnings from Covid-19. This includes an array of outdoor spaces, such as spacious balconies for each household and a roof garden.
Commenting on the purchase of the Wirral Waters site, Belong chief executive, Tracey Stakes, said, “We are thrilled to be entering the next stage of our Belong Wirral development.
“Wirral Waters is an exciting project to be a part of and provides an excellent location for us to create something of real benefit to the local community, both in terms of offering specialist dementia and nursing care and through generating over 140 jobs for people in the area.”
Richard Mawdsley, Peel L&P’s Director of Development for Wirral Waters added, “We are delighted to have Belong Villages as a partner for the quayside care village at Northbank in Wirral Waters. With the other neighbouring housing projects, Wirral Waters will start to create a thriving and diverse community.
“The Belong Village will offer an incredibly vibrant and versatile environment for residents to enjoy, whatever their needs or abilities, and we are really excited to be working alongside them on this project.”
Belong Wirral will be the tenth development for the organisation, which currently operates villages in Warrington, Wigan, Crewe, Macclesfield, Atherton, Didsbury and Newcastle-under-Lyme with two further sites set to open in Birkdale and Chester.