£4.4m scheme for care homes gets under way in Portsmouth

IT’S a modern housing development that will provide round-the-clock care for pensioners and adults with disabilities.
Now community leaders have come together to celebrate the opening of a showhome at the 43-bedroom apartment complex in Caroline Square, Portsea, Portsmouth.

The £4.4m development is a joint venture between Portsmouth City Council, Housing 21 and Leadbitter.

The firm’s locality manager Paul Tewkesbury and Councillor Leo Madden, cabinet member for health and social care, cut a ribbon at the entrance.

Mr Tewkesbury said: ‘We’re at a stage where we can show the design and layout of the flats.

‘It’s going to be quite busy now that the show home is open.

‘This is an opportunity for people to think about whether it’s the sort of place for them.’

As previously reported in The News, the building, which is due to be completed in November, will have a communal lounge, dining room, hair salon and laundry room. The apartments will be available for rent.

Residents will be issued with a pendant with a button on, which they can press if they need any help.

The alarm will then get picked up by a team which is on site 24 hours a day who can come to their aide.

It is on the site of the former Caroline Lodge residential care home, which was demolished in 2009.

Mr Tewkesbury said: ‘This is not a care home, or a residential home – it’s somewhere in between. This is part of Portsmouth’s housing strategy.

‘It’s about dealing with a growing older population and making people feel more independent and stopping them feeling institutionalised.

‘We want them to have longer and better lives.’

Sixteen residents have so far been shown around and another 12 have made appointments.

Similar developments built are Brunel Court, off Lake Road, Landport and Milton Village, in Milton.

Robert Clark, 68, of Queen Street, Portsea, hopes he will get to move in.

‘It’s brilliant,’ he said. ‘It’s better than what I already live in.

‘I will be nearer to my four sisters. I would be able to go straight out the door and see them.’

Cllr Darren Sanders, cabinet member for housing, said: ‘This is the sort of accommodation older people in this city deserve.

‘Portsea is an area that has had a lot of change over the years.’