£5 million Seacroft care village creates 100 jobs

A new £5 million care village is set to open in the heart of Seacroft, Leeds, this weekend, creating one hundred new jobs.

The opening of Seacroft Grange care village follows a five and a half year project to transform a dilapidated historic Seacroft building overlooking an ancient village green into an innovative new care complex for a wide range of age groups.

Seacroft Grange has attracted a £1.9 million investment from the Business Growth Fund (BGF), as part of an overall £4.4m investment secured by Seacroft Grange owners, Springfield Healthcare Group.

Springfield Healthcare Group is one of the largest independent providers of domiciliary or homecare in Yorkshire and Humberside.

Based in Garforth and employing 1200 people, it was established in 1967 as a single family-run care home, which still operates as a specialist dementia facility known as Springfield Care.

It has since grown steadily, expanding into homecare, training and pioneering the care village model. Springfield currently provides care to 2,500 clients each day, of which around 900 are based in Leeds including 400 clients living in the East Leeds area.

The company’s founder and chief executive officer, Graeme Lee, is a former chairman of the Leeds Care Association and the visionary behind the Seacroftproject.

According to Lee, the new care village contains many unique features and has been designed to adapt to a person’s changing care needs, offering a full range of services including aspirational day care, residential and nursing care, as well as private independent living apartments for a wide range of age groups.

He said: “Finding the right care for a family member can be an extremely stressful process. Our model helps families make an informed choice earlier in the planning process and then moves with the needs of individuals or couples as their care needs progress, at the same time ensuring long term consistency where the care team and quality of information are concerned.

“We believe this is what the government wants when it talks about integrated healthcare and joined-up thinking from the people in charge of that care.

“At the heart of our care village is a Grade 2 listed building which will be the basis for all our social and community activities and houses a cinema, therapy spa and gym, hair salon and coffee shop that wouldn’t look out of place on the high streets of York or Harrogate.

“As well as exceptional views over the village green, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book. People and families can be seen going about their daily business and, unusually, we have every single community amenity including medical centres, pharmacy, pub, library, church, post office, supermarket and bus station, all within 100 metres.

“Together, these facilities provide a unique approach to and we expect Seacroft Grange to be very popular.”

The care village is based around the former home of the Lord of the Manor of Seacroft, which was built in 1627 and originally called Tottie Hall.

It later became a school and adult education centre and had been derelict for over twenty years before it was purchased by Springfield Healthcare in 2010. Two large, modern wings incorporating the latest technology and care expertise have been added on either side to maximise views and create easy access to the outdoor areas.

Seacroft Grange incorporates 79 care beds split across seven individual zones, each completely self-contained and with their own day space and kitchen facilities in order to feel more homely. A further seventeen apartments and suites complete the facility.

The BGF was established to help the UK’s fast-growing smaller and medium-sized businesses and recognises both potential for growth, as well as quality and well-managed businesses.