The £9.6 million Peachment Place, which will provide housing and care for over-55s, will be ready to welcome its first residents in January.
Bury Council’s first extra care scheme will provide 60 purpose-built apartments in Redvales, giving older people much-needed affordable housing for rent and enabling them to live active, healthy and independent lives.
Council leader Rishi Shori visited the site in the company of shadow housing minister John Healey and Bury North MP James Frith, now that building work is nearly finished and the apartments are being fitted out.
Cllr Shori said: “This is the biggest single investment ever made by the council and our second extra care scheme, following the hugely successful Redbank.
“This is a magnificent scheme and one we can rightly be proud of. As more of us become older, the demand for later life care services continues to rise, and this will go some way to helping us meet this demand in Bury.”
Peachment Place was named, after consultation with local residents, in memory of Rifleman George Stanley Peachment. He lived nearby, and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross after losing his life at the Battle of Loos in 1915.
It comprises 14 one-bed and 46 two-bed extra care apartments, with their own front doors, complemented by communal and community facilities and set in landscaped grounds.
It has been built by Eric Wright Construction over the last two years on a brownfield site, with major funding from the council complemented by investment of £1.8 million from Homes England.
Six Town Housing will manage the site and residents’ care needs will be met by Persona, a wholly owned company of the council, who will provide a range of social and health care support options.
Facilities will include:
24-hour, 7-day a week access to care support and care provision
Full disabled access including lift access to upper floors
Bistro
Hair and beauty salon
Spa room
Assisted bathroom
Communal lounges
Guest facilities
Buggy store
Accessible and secure outdoor space
Cllr Shori added: “Peachment Place builds on the success of the Redbank extra care scheme in Radcliffe, owned and managed by Six Town Housing. It will provide greater choice for older people locally needing care, while enabling them to stay in their own self-contained apartment, helping them to retain their independence and enjoy on-site facilities to combat loneliness and isolation. I’m sure this will be extremely popular and give our residents a lovely home with the care they need.”
The council is advertising the properties for affordable rent and Peachment Place is expected to attract huge interest. An open day is being held on 12 December for people who are registered on the council’s housing waiting list to view the building and its facilities.
As well as visiting Peachment Place, shadow housing minister John Healey was also given a tour of sites in Bury town centre, as part of the council’s growth plans.
Council leader Rishi Shori said: “Our message is clear – Bury is very much open for business.
“We are taking huge steps to attract investment and bring together the key elements of housing, business, education and leisure that makes our borough a great place in which to live, work and learn.
“Bury is the third largest retail centre in Greater Manchester. It offers enormous future potential for developing its residential and lifestyle offer further in recognition of changing retail patterns.
“Plans are being drawn up to transform key council-owned sites such as the old fire station and former police HQ site, along with the redevelopment of Chamberhall to attract hi-tech manufacturing and research and development businesses with the potential for 400 jobs.”
Cllr Shori added: “When you add in the redevelopment plans for the former ELPM site in Radcliffe, the Uplands in Whitefield, the Longfield Centre in Prestwich and the £4 million investment in Warth business park, we can truly say that Bury means business.”