News
Hawthorndale Care Village buildings soon to arise
Detailed design work has been completed, site civil works all-but finished, and consents meant the building work would get under way this month, the village’s board chair Frank O’Boyle said.
“This is one of those milestones that bring us closer to bringing life to our vision for the elderly and people with dementia,’’ he said.
Expected to open mid-2025, the $35 million village will be an aged care facility inspired by the Dutch dementia village De Hogeweyk.
Run by its board on a not-for-profit basis, it would be committed to provide the most normal life possible, providing a sense of purpose in a comfortable, secure environment for residents who would include people living with dementia.
It would follow a social rather than a traditional medical/institutional model of care, a contained and carefully overseen village-style society, where the rhythms of everyday living were retained as much as possible for each resident.
Construction project manager Nick Hamlin of Maxis Projects welcomed the conclusion of what had proven a “straightforward’’ consents process.
Three separate building contracts have been awarded and will be undertaken simultaneously to build the village, care house and retirement villas on the land where the Hawthorndale school had previously stood, fronting Tay St, Invercargill.
Local building firm Henderson Construction has been awarded the contract to build the main village centre.
Amalgamated Builders Ltd has the contract for the 13 care houses.
Bennett Homes has the contract for the 10 retirement villas.
At its peak the project will have about 200 tradies on site.
All up, the Hawthorndale project is expected to generate 300 jobs during the construction phase and, once opened, create 11 new jobs and retain 87 positions from the transition from Calvary Hospital Southland, from which the initiative sprang.
Among those on site on Friday was Calvary’s Margaret Brown, delighted to see the gathering momentum for an idea she first raised 10 years ago now ready to proceed “full steam ahead’’.
