Topping out ceremony at our new dementia specialist care home in Littlehampton
Official ceremony marks the ‘topping out’ of our newest care home site
This week we celebrated an official ceremony to mark the ‘topping out’ at our newest care home site. HMT Littlehampton is our brand-new dementia specialist care home in Climping, near the seaside town of Littlehampton, West Sussex. At the ceremony, Mair Williams, our Chief Operations Officer laid a commemorative stone to mark the end of major construction for the care home.
Mair said: “We are very excited to reach this milestone in the building development of HMT Littlehampton which is specifically designed to enable and support the wellbeing of people with dementia, and facilitates the household model of care. The build has strong sustainability credentials including a living, green roof, solar panels and air source heat pumps as its primary source of heating.
We’re proud that we’ve chosen to invest £10 million in Climping and Littlehampton. Not only will it create valuable jobs in the community, it will also provide a ground-breaking, high-quality care option for people suffering from dementia.”
Our £10million care home, to be known as The Larches is pioneering both its design and the type of care it offers. The care home is designed to feel less like a care home and more like a home-from-home for residents. Designed over two storeys, it has four separate wings with 16 bedrooms in each wing. The wings are split equally into two distinct households of eight bed “homes,” each with their own domestic kitchen, dining and day lounge spaces. The residents will live in small family “homes” with others at a similar stage of dementia; important for reducing stress and helping in the socialisation for residents.
Residents will enjoy sweeping views across the quiet countryside, with Climping Beach less than a mile away. In the home our unique, research-led approach offers residents a “family” approach to their physical and mental well-being. Members of each household, where possible, are involved in purposeful day-to-day domestic activities which provide social interactions, value and routine to their day. The preferences, quirks, history and personality traits of each individual will be understood and valued by staff. As a result, staff will forge genuine and long-lasting relationships with both the resident and their relatives.
Each unit features generous ensuite bedrooms, communal areas such as lounges, dining rooms, reading rooms, a garden lounge and terraces overlooking the landscaped and secure purpose-designed grounds for people with dementia and their visitors, together with ample car parking. Additional well-being facilities include a hair salon, café, shop and tea room.
Tony Barrett, our Chief Executive said: “It’s an exciting day as HMT Littlehampton reaches a milestone in its construction. This is a ground-breaking care home as residents will feel like they are at home. HMT Littlehampton will look like a family style household as well as feel like one with the personal care they will receive. As construction continues, we are looking forward to the recruitment stage – offering fulfilling jobs to people in the community”.
Annie Lewis, our new Care Home Manager said: “I am delighted to have been appointed as the Manager of HMT Littlehampton, which is an exciting venture for all involved. The care home will be an integral part of the local community and will provide employment such as the role of ‘Homemaker,’ who will support our residents to receive high-quality person-centred care in a ‘home from home’ environment. Residents living with dementia in the local community will be welcome to visit the cafe and hairdressing salon”