Care centre on track
Construction starts on Estia’s $28m facility
CONSTRUCTION on the Gold Coast’s newest aged care facility has started in Southport.
Estia Health’s $28 million project will house 110 beds across two floors on Stevens Street.
Estia Health CEO and managing director Norah Barlow said the milestone had come after months of careful planning.
“The home will span two floors, with the first floor accommodating 64 beds and the ground floor incorporating a further 46 beds – 17 of which will form a dedicated memory support unit,” she said.
“All of the rooms feature a private ensuite and have been purpose-designed to maximise natural light.”
Ms Barlow said the new building would replace a recently-demolished aged care home constructed on the site in the 1970s.
“Estia Health is currently building a number of new homes across Australia, as well as upgrading some of our existing homes, and in this case, redeveloping an existing site,” she said.
“The new building will expand our previous home on Stevens Street by 50 beds.
“We have another home, Estia Health Gold Coast, already operating in the Southport community.”
According to the latest census data, more than 17 per cent of Southport’s population is aged 65 or over – almost two per cent higher than the state average.
It is anticipated that construction will be completed in May 2019.
“It’s exciting to be commencing construction now that demolition of the previous building is complete,” Mrs Barlow said.
“We expect to have an average of 100 local tradespeople on-site each day throughout the construction period, so this is great news for the Gold Coast economy.”