Work on the site of a new 5-bedroom nursing and complex needs facility is due to get underway after Les Amis appointed builders Hacquoil and Cook and Page Architects.
Known as Project Trinity, the new facility for Islanders with learning disabilities will transform a property in Rue de Bechet in Trinity to provide higher nursing care for islanders who have additional needs due to age or dementia.
After already raising £1 million to buy the property, Les Amis needed to raise a further £2.5 million to complete the project. Six months on and successful fundraising means that there’s enough capital for the project to begin.
Shaun Findlay, Managing Director of Les Amis said: “We’re delighted that we can at last get spades into the ground and begin the work to get this important facility open. The most important thing to understand about Project Trinity is that it will enable us to continue to care for those we support when their nursing needs become more complex. That includes end-of-life care, something that’s not possible in our group residential homes. Les Amis is often the only ‘family’ that some of our elderly residents have because we’ve supported them for most of their adult lives. That’s why this new facility is so important and needed in Jersey.”
Les Amis, which is marking its 50th Anniversary, had already raised £1 million to buy the property in Trinity and has been fundraising to meet the further £2.5 million needed to refurbish and complete the building. With plans approved, the Constable of Trinity, Philip Le Sueur, and Les Amis Trustees will be symbolically putting the first spades into the ground to mark the start of the construction phase which is due to begin on 2nd June.
Leslie Norman MBE, Chair and Trustee, commented: “It’s been clear to all of us who work with the charity that this has been needed for a long time. We almost got there with the Maison des Amis project at the former Hampshire Hotel, but this bespoke facility will be the first of its kind in the Channel Islands. Getting this project underway is the perfect way to celebrate our 50th anniversary year.”
Ryan Barrett from Page Architects said: “On behalf of Page Architects we would like to thank Les Amis for providing us with the opportunity to collaborate on this meaningful project. We are proud to have contributed to delivering a brief that reflects the charity’s values and mission and look forward to progressing the next stages of the project with Hacquoil & Cook, who were appointed as the main contractor.
“As a practice, we would like to thank the Planning Department for their valued support, guidance and commitment in ensuring that the application was well received and processed in a timely manner.
“Finally, we want to extend our sincere thanks gratitude to the Constable of Trinity, Phillip Le Sueur, for his contribution and recognition towards the need for a care home facility of this kind and how much it will benefit the community.”
Main picture: Left to right – Ryan Barrett (Page), Constable Philip Le Sueur, Les Norman (Les Amis), Warren Bathgate (H&C), Shaun Findlay (Les Amis blue helmet), Paul Routier (Les Amis inside the digger), Paul Van Bodegom (Page), Dominic Willmott (H&C). Photo credit – Paul Watson.
