Former Shopping Centre To Be Converted Into Extra Care Flats

Former Shopping Centre To Be Converted Into Extra Care Flats

The site of a derelict shopping centre in Beeston is set to be torn down and replaced with 63 apartments providing extra care for the elderly, as well as supported living for working-age adults, pending approval by Leeds City Council.

The plans for the currently empty Hunslet Hall Road shopping centre include parking for the 63 residents and their carers, landscape gardening and a newsagents cabin to replace the only surviving store on the site.

As well as this, a café has also been proposed on-site designed with the staff, residents and visitors in mind.

As the site is next to Pennington Court Nursing Home, it would be an ideal place to provide extra care, with staff available next door as required.

Initially, given that the site focused on two groups with somewhat different care needs and care plans, the developers proposed two separate buildings in an April 2020 planning application.

However, discussions with the council itself, as well as contractors and scaffolders in Leeds led to the decision to focus the service into one building.

According to the application itself, the single-building proposal allows all the residents to access all the communal facilities without needing to go outside and reduces the need for extra security. This in turn allows for more communal space and for all apartments to have a dedicated outdoors area.

This would take the form of either a ground floor outdoor space to call their own, or a balcony on the other three floors.

The plans also promised that each apartment would have natural ventilation, be light and sustainable, and wanted to focus on creating “a sense of community and well-being” that would allow care delivery to enable people to live in their own homes.

At present, the site is only occupied by a newsagent, with the rest of the shopping centre suffering from vandalism and a lack of maintenance.

One issue that was raised during pre-planning discussions was ensuring that the newsagent’s shop, an important part of the local community, was retained and factors into the new plans.

During the construction, a temporary cabin will be constructed to ensure that the newsagent can continue to do business next door in Pennington Court.

Beyond the site itself, Optima confirmed in documentation cited by the application that the site has a convenient local bust stop and is close to the Local Centre on Dewsbury Road, which would allow residents the capacity to be more independent, and allow staff and visitors to resupply as they need.

What Is Extra Care Housing?

For people who have care needs, there is a range of different options to suit particular needs, which fit on a spectrum from living in a care home (residential care) to care that is provided in the person’s own home (domiciliary care).

In the middle of this spectrum is extra care housing, also commonly known as assisted living. This is where a person lives in their own self-contained flat, with care available around the clock to provide care and support services tailored to individual needs.

Basing extra care housing near an existing care home allows for extra staff to be available as and when required.

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