WORK has restarted to allow a former Rhondda care home to be turned into care accommodation for people with learning disabilities after the previous contractor went into liquidation.
Rhondda Cynon Taf Council has said that the demolition of the former Bronllwyn Residential Care Home site in Gelli has resumed, so it can be developed into modern specialist care accommodation for people with learning disabilities in adulthood and older age.
Work had been paused due to the liquidation of the former demolition contractor, who had completed the strip-out of the existing buildings.
All structures will now be demolished, including removal of infrastructure such as foundations and demolished materials will be removed from the site.
When finished, the site at Colwyn Road will then be ready for development.
Planning permission was given in April 2023 to build a new £4.9m specialist care accommodation that includes 13 en-suite bedrooms and a respite room.
These will be built across a lower ground floor, a ground floor, and a first floor. There will be a courtyard to the west of the building, while the existing car park and site access point will be kept.
The development will include laundry facilities, a staff restroom, three day rooms, three sensory rooms, a commercial kitchen, toilet areas, nurse station, hairdresser, assisted bathroom and a training room.
The re-tender process for the main development contract has also recently finished and the successful contractor is currently expected to start the construction phase on site in late spring or early summer 2024.
The scheme is part of the council’s wider plans to modernise its residential care services.
In December 2020, cabinet agreed to close Bronllwyn residential care home as it considers a new development in its place and there were no residents living at the care home when it was closed.
Bronllwyn day centre was closed in 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions, and has remained closed apart from between August and December 2021, when it opened on three days a week.
It was permanently closed as part of a decision by cabinet in July 2022 to approve the specialist accommodation for the site.
