The Leeds office of international project managers and cost consultants, Faithful+Gould has reached completion of Phase One of the £29 million Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust’s Hartfields Retirement Village in Hartlepool.

This project is particularly significant to Faithful+Gould as it was the first large scale Retirement Village based on the extra care concept in the North East of England to receive the single largest grant allocation from the Department of Health in recent years.

Hartfields Retirement Village has been developed for people aged 60 years and over offering high quality ‘Extra Care’ accommodation, helping older people live independently in their own home in a socially stimulating environment. When complete, a total of 242 mixed tenure apartments and cottages will be available for sale, shared ownership or rental.

An impressive range of communal facilities including a restaurant and café bar, a health activity centre with fully equipped gym and spa pool, a convenience grocery store, an arts and crafts workshop, a library with IT suite and a hairdressing salon will also be available for residents, as well as local people, to enjoy when complete.

Phase one will see the completion of 14 one-bedroom apartments, 39 two-bedroom apartments and 80 two-bedroom plus apartments which are currently being occupied.

Faithful+Gould carried out project management, quantity surveying and CDM Coordination, during the first phase, which commenced in 2006 and will be continuing to provide these services on phases two and three until the final account in 2010.

Phase two, which started in June 2007 and due for completion in November 2008, will see a further 66 units of accommodation inclusive of 18 cottages whilst phase three will create another 43 units inclusive of 10 cottages and is scheduled for completion in March 2009.

Roger Standish, a senior project manager with Faithful+Gould, has over 20 years’ of specialist extra care experience gained from a number of national housing associations and has provided valuable advice on the project. He said:

“Responding to the predicted 75% increase in the number of people in the UK aged over 65 during the next 30 years, affordable extra care housing schemes are becoming an important part of the local community and it is therefore essential that the providers receive the best guidance and advice available.

“We have a long standing relationship with the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust plus experience and expertise in delivering affordable Extra Care Housing across the North making us best placed to provide advice to the Hartfields scheme.”

Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust has worked with Hartlepool Borough Council, Hartlepool Primary Care Trust and North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust to create Hartfields. This unique working arrangement is the first in the UK to bring together the expertise of a housing association, social care and health services in a formal partnership, aimed at delivering joined-up services to older people.

Nigel Ingram, Director of Development and Property Services at the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, said:

“It is very exciting to be involved in the first large scale Retirement Village based on the extra care concept in the North East of England and progressing the groundbreaking work initiated when the country’s first Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) was developed by Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust at Hartrigg Oaks in York. Having reached this significant milestone, Hartfields is already developing a sense of community, with more than 25 properties occupied in the first two weeks.

“It has been reassuring to know that we have had Faithful+Gould’s expertise behind us, coordinating monthly cost reporting, senior client meetings and regular site meetings every step of the way and I look forward to working with them during the rest of the project.”

Also working on Hartfields are main contractor, Castleoak Care Partnerships – a national specialist in the construction of care developments and retirement communities; PRP Architects; structural engineers, Billinghurst George & Partners of Thornaby and mechanical and electrical consultants, BES Consulting Engineers.

Email: lisa.wallace@clothierlacey.co.uk