It’s usual to talk about how the look of social care is changing, not least because of the Care Act, parts of which came into force on 1 April 2015.
However, in Liverpool social care will literally begin to look different as the city council starts on the second phase of refurbishing its building stock after securing investment of just over £3m.
Several ambitious projects have already been completed in the city since phase one of the project began in 2010. The former Lime Court day centre for people with learning and physical disabilities has been transformed into The Lime, the former Sedgemoor care home has become a specialist dementia reablement centre and Granby, another former care home that operates a general reablement service, has had its communal areas refurbished. Venmore reablement hub also has a new day centre building which has just been shortlisted for a SCALA civic building of the year award.
Phase two will see the 30 bedrooms at both Sedgemoor and Granby completely refurbished to include en suite bathrooms, at an investment of about £600,000 for each building.
Phil Wong, in-house provision divisional manager, said: “So there is a minimum of disruption for service users we decided that the buildings will be closed, unlike last time when we could organise the work around the people who were staying in the buildings.
“We are going to complete the work on Granby first which will start at the end of April. Our reablement services have a fantastic reputation in the city, particularly with our colleagues in health, and the staff team, as always, has done a great job in getting the service to a point where the contractors will be able to start work.
“We’ve been fully supported by partners in commissioning beds so that the city keeps the same number of reablement beds while the work is happening.”
Some phase two work has already been completed, such as the landscaping of The Lime’s exterior grounds to create a space for service users to enjoy.
Similar ideas for getting the best from the outside as well as the inside of buildings can also be found in plans for Crown Street resource centre, a day service for people with mental ill health, which will have a £1.5m overhaul.
Samih Kalakeche, adult services and health director, said: “All our buildings have served us well for many years, but we reached a point where to deliver the services that people deserve we had to make an investment of both money and effort that went beyond making a superficial improvements.
“We want buildings that support the way we now deliver services and also reflect the commitment that Liverpool city council has to continuing to provide services for the city’s most vulnerable people. Quite simply we want to deliver brilliant services from brilliant buildings.”
The council is working with architects Mouchel Property on its plans for Crown Street.
Architect Antony Swann said: “The existing building is over 30 years old and doesn’t really reflect the excellent care it provides. Mouchel together with Willmott Dixon Construction and the council have worked hard with the people who regularly use the building to develop a brief that will ensure the building is flexible enough to change as mental health care evolves over the coming years.
“The existing building is going to be completely refurbished inside and out with a new refreshment café extension to the side that will link to the existing building and sit sympathetically in the existing park-like landscaping.
“As parking is a problem on the site we will also be extending and landscaping the existing parking area as well as providing a new gym facility, music room, arts room, photography studio and changing places facilities.”
It is anticipated that all phase two work will be completed by the end of 2015.
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