A CARE home constructed by a Huddersfield property developer has been shortlisted for a national award.
Meridian Healthcare-owned Oakes Care Home – the work of Brockholes-based developer Conroy Brook – is in the running for honours in the annual Pinders Healthcare Design Awards, which recognise design excellence in care homes throughout the UK.
The Oakes has been shortlisted in the New Care Homes (Small) category.
Conroy Brook began work on the care home in 2011 and completed on schedule in April last year. Former Huddersfield Town footballer Denis Law officially opened the facility in August and it is already 80% full.
The Oakes has been designed on the site of a former local authority home and makes use of existing mature trees to create a beautiful landscaped garden.
Residents living on the ground floor have large single bedrooms, each with an en-suite shower room and many with patio doors opening out onto the delightful patio and gardens.
Residents with residential and dementia care needs are also welcomed at the home. Facilities for those with dementia include a village store offering old-fashioned sweets, twine and other useful everyday objects and memory boxes are located at every bedroom door. The layout, carpets and furniture have been specially selected to support the needs of those with dementia.
Conroy Brook and Meridian Healthcare are no strangers to these design awards, having received Best New Development Award for White Rose House at Holmfirth in 2005.
Meridian managing director Susan Firth said: “Our vision for the care of older people has always been the provision of excellent quality care and facilities.
“Having the design of our care centres recognised in this way is a fantastic testament to the effort and thought put in by everyone involved with our facilities.”
Conroy Brook chief executive Richard Conroy said: “We are delighted that The Oakes has been shortlisted for this prestigious award and that we had the opportunity to work with Meridian once again.
“The development has brought back to life a redundant site and we are proud to know that we have helped to create a vital facility that contributes to the health and wellbeing of the people of Kirklees.”
The competition judges will visit The Oakes in early 2013. Winners in each category will be announced on March 21, 2013, at an event to be held in London.
