The site of an Edwardian shipping magnates’ residence converted into a nursing home and extended in the 1980’s. The site was purchased from receivers by Northcare Developments with a view to build a new nursing home with an attached unit catering for young onset dementia. Due to the latter being a unique provision at the time, protracted design meetings were required with the local PCT before a solution encompassing a single storey unit formed around an internal courtyard offering security, supervision and natural light penetration was agreed.

A number of mature trees had to be removed from the central area of the site, which were replaced with semi mature specimens to infill gaps in the boundary avenue. The completed building mirrors elements of the demolished building with Tudor gabling, paired windows with stone mullions, cills and heads and projecting stone string courses.

The home opened in early 2006 and its 54 rooms were all occupied within weeks due, we would like to think, to its large, naturally lit day rooms, overlooking bustling Marton Road, its large private bedrooms with en-suite shower rooms and its mature tree fringed setting.