Willaston View Care Home

The former Redsands Children’s Centre in Nantwich closed its doors in 2009 and will now see the redundant building brought back to life as a specialist centre of excellence for dementia care. The existing building will be demolished and replaced with the care home facility, car park, secure gardens and landscaped areas and will benefit from greater thermal performance with Wetherby’s EWI system.

The centre, off Crewe Road, has been derelict for years and over time has become a magnet for vandalism and arsonists. This unwanted attention has presented the local community with a security and health and safety risk, which has also resulted in numerous maintenance and repair costs for the council.

After years of neglect, the decision was made to sell the premises to Cheshire East Council who confirmed plans to change the centre into a much needed specialist care home, bringing the site back to economic use and creating new jobs locally.

The new centre will feature as part of Richmond Village Care Homes’ portfolio and will be known as Richmond Willaston. Richmond Care Homes are inspired by the Dutch “Household” model which is designed to allow residents to live independently.

Metnor Construction were appointed as the main contractors for this project enlisting the help of Sylk Interior Systems Ltd and S and B EPS Ltd. After reviewing the requirements for the project, Wetherby’s EWI system was chosen which utilised specially made insulation boards from S and B EPS Ltd. These insulation boards were 1200mm x 500mm and included a 20mm chamfer on each edge so they could be butt jointed together and prevent damage to the edges.

Part of the brief for this project was for the finish to have a Georgian influence with stone work. Real stone work can be incredibly expensive so to combat this issue Wetherby’s 1.5mm silicone render was used but with an ashlar effect. This means that after applying the render, fine lines are indented to imitate the effect of blocks. By using this method, it has achieved the Georgian stone block work look but for a fraction of the cost of real stone.

The new facility has created 80 jobs and will operate as a satellite campus to Richmond’s existing care village in Nantwich.

Cllr Ainsley Arnold, Cheshire East Council cabinet member for housing and planning, said: “This is a welcome opportunity for a respected care organisation to provide services to some of our most vulnerable residents.”