A development which brings together a residential Care Home and Housing with Extra Care Facility in Stornoway
Client: Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
Sector: Healthcare
Status: Completed
Project Budget: £32,650,000
Delivered Social & Environmental Value: £4,936,917
Economic Value: £5,447,537
Return on Capital Investment: £10,384,454
Waste diverted from landfill: 99%
"I would like to thank all those involved in delivering these fantastic facilities. This project is having and will continue to have a transformational and lasting impact on the Western Isles."
Cllr Kenny Macleod
Convener of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
The Goathill project was a hugely ambitious development which brought together a 52-bed residential Care Home and 50-unit Housing with Extra Care Facility and was delivered by the Comhairle in partnership with the Western Isles Integration Joint Board and Hebridean Housing Partnership.
The state-of-the-art facility was built to address a projected shortfall in the region of suitable residential and extra care accommodation. It was the first project of its kind in the Western Isles.
The facility provides accommodation to meet a range of care needs and levels of dependency for the elderly population in the area.
From the outset, the project received advice and design consultancy from the University of Stirling’s Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC). Their involvement helped to inform staffing and operating models for the facilities and to define best practice finishes within areas.
Works comprised the construction of a 52-bed Care Home with four wings to facilitate small secure group living all served off a central core block with common staff and residents facilities . Shared wing facilities include communal day rooms, day dining rooms and quiet rooms together assisted bathing facilities. Each wing also includes free access to naturally lit internal common spaces and provides dayroom or corridor access to external secure courtyards for residents recreational use, furthermore 2 larger central secure courtyards are provided within the main body facility of the Care Home to again provide residents with external space for recreational and social space.
The 50-unit Housing with Extra Care facility has 2 secure internal courtyards for residents recreational use together with another secure external area off the common GF day dining room.
An already complex, challenging and ambitious project became even more so as a consequence of world events including the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting material procurement/ availability issues.
The remoteness of the project was also a challenge when it came to workforce, materials etc. but the hard work of the supply chain and team involved ensured completion.
Buildability in such a remote location was a key consideration. The climate has significant periods of inclement weather with heavy and persistent rainfall. An example of this was the decision to use a timber frame as it allowed us to maximise off-site fabrication to reduce on-site assembly, allowing large wall panels to be erected and floor cassettes installed, giving greater productivity than steelwork or masonry construction. The comparative speed of construction minimised exposure of the load-bearing elements to the weather which allowed wings to be wind and watertight relatively quickly.
The Care Home, named Taigh Shìphoirt (Seaforth House), is a single-storey building with four wings that each accommodates 13 residents. The four wings are named after local beaches; Garry, Bosta, Coll and Dalmore. Each wing is designed as a circulation wandering loop and are uniquely DSDC coloured to avoid confusion for the residents. Each has its own safe garden and community area built in.
The Housing with Extra Care building, named Bremner Court, is a two/ three storey building which includes a respite wing. Each housing unit is comprised of a kitchen/dining area/ living area, bedroom with en-suite facilities with 24-hour staffing provision to support the residents.
In addition, the campus also comprises a daycare facility which will be occupied by Solas (Alzheimer Scotland), the Care Home includes a staff training suite and a new location for the Faire ‘call centre’ service.
"The delivery of a project of this scale was only possible thanks to collaboration and the sharing of expertise between partners and has now set the standard for future projects of this type. I would like to give a particular mention to our social care staff. Our staff have had to contend with staff shortages a pandemic and the upheaval of a move to a new facility. Throughout all these challenges our staff have prioritised the care of residents and ultimately it is them that have made the successful delivery of this project possible.”
Cllr Kenny Macleod
Convener of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
We had to have a strategy in place to ensure we were re-using and recycling materials as much as possible due to the remote nature of the project.
We outlined the following in our strategy:
- Pre-fabricated corridor ceiling service components within the Housing with Extra Care were manufactured in 3m long sections and were fitted into the ceiling voids and connected end to end. This improved service coordination and hence minimised the waste produced in installing each service individually.
- The building was constructed from pre-manufactured timber panels and trusses which reduced the timber waste on-site
- The plant rooms for both buildings were delivered as one self-contained pre-manufactured plant unit which was then connected to the services. This reduced the waste on site from individual installations but also removed the requirements for several different specialist subcontractors to travel to the island to perform individual installs
- All UPVC windows for the project were sourced from a local supplier
- Sand for the external tradition harling/ render for the Care Home and Housing with Extra Care buildings was sourced from local beaches as per island tradition
- Lewisian Gneiss granite for the project façade stonework was quarried and selected locally for both buildings and constructed with traditional techniques with lime mortar During COVID-19 access to materials was limited so the effort to reduce, reuse, and recycle or to utilise local products was vitally important.
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