New Administration Unit

Crossways is planning to build a new administration unit in the grounds of the care home at Number 8. This would incorporate the current admin staff along with John Neel as the new Chief Executive and have sufficient additional space for a meeting room, archive room and spare office for external projects such as Mental health awareness and Restoration. The overall cost is expected to be about £350,000 and we hope that we will be able to keep to the following time scale:

25th September 2009

Plans submitted to Planning Department. Design Statement & Planning Application.

October 2009

Consult with neighbours.

December 2009

Receive planning consent (now received). Finalise and issue tender document

Late January/Early February 2010

Receive tenders back from builders - get final approval from Directors to commence.

29th March 2010

Commence building (appointed builders are Richardson & Peat)

Site plan with new admin block

July/August 2010

Start occupying the new building

We’ve met with the architect & Quantity Surveyor and the images below (click on them for bigger versions) are draft outline plans submitted to the planning department. The building will be timber-framed and well insulated therefore will be environmentally conscious with low running costs.

Existing Admin Department

Site of new building (Looking North East)

Site of New Building (looking South East)

Current Status

Ground Floor Layout (4Mb)

Land Survey

 Site Location Plan

Site Elevations

Questions & Answers

How big will this building be?

This building will be approximately 130m² (approximately 52’ x 28’). It will have 5 offices (each for one or two people), a meeting room, a toilet, a storage room and small kitchenette for making coffee etc.

Why is Crossways constructing this new building?

To consolidate several existing staff and functions into one building, such as:

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The current administration staff (housed in an existing building called the Pavilion in the grounds of the care home at 8 Culverden Park Road),

The new Chief Executive (who is currently using a temporary office in the care home)

A part-time support worker for Bethel Court our independent flats in Culverden Park (who currently uses the Pavilion)

Spare office for support workers (of the care home or supported accommodation) to work privately.

A storage room to house archives and old files,

A meeting room to free up space from the care home and supported accommodation. We currently take over residents’ lounges if we need to have a meeting.

Longer term, we may employ a part-time secretary for the Chief Executive and use part of the spare office to house Mental Health Awareness workers. There are no fixed plans for either of these positions at the moment.

How was the site of the building chosen?

We considered several options which included:

* Keeping the admin staff in the Pavilion and renting out an office for the Chief Executive, However, this would have meant that we would have had problems using rooms, designated for residents’ use for staff meetings etc and accommodating the Chief Executive off site would potentially limit his involvement.

* Another alternative was to use the building that we currently rent out to Winfield (formerly Winfield Trust and now part of United Response) which has been established in our unit for several years and have built up a good reputation for providing computer training for people with mental health problems. The site is very convenient for them in terms of access so would be a considerable loss if they were to move elsewhere.

* Given that two obvious alternatives, options were to build somewhere. Given that we have large grounds at the care home in Culverden Park Road, using some of this land was felt appropriate. The area of land chosen isn’t used by residents and because of surrounding tree cover, isn’t overlooked by our neighbours but is adjacent to the car park so has good access for visitors. 

Are you planning to increase the numbers of residents at the care home or supported accommodation?

There are no plans to do this in the foreseeable future as the care home or supported accommodation do not lend themselves to be expanded easily. The building of the admin block is separate to the care facilities provided by Crossways.

What will happen to the Pavilion?

The Pavilion currently houses the admin staff and initial plans are that it would become a social room for the care home staff.

Will these plans mean that there will be more traffic and congestion in Culverden Park Road?

As initially existing staff will be based in the new building, there will be no more traffic. If we employ a part-time secretary for the Chief Executive, we would expect that the hours of work would mean that the peak traffic times of 8.30am - 9.00am & 5.00pm - 5.30pm would be avoided. This is the situation of the current part-time secretary at the care home. If we were to employ Mental Health Worker(s), they will probably have a part-time base in the Admin Building (it may be decided that it is better for them to work from home or elsewhere) as they would be involved in work at schools or businesses and therefore would not add to the congestion to the road.

Will there be disturbance to the neighbourhood?

We are conscious that our presence should not detract from our neighbours’ enjoyment of their properties. With the advice of the Planning Department, we have sought to minimise the impact on surrounding buildings. The foundations of building will be lowered into the banking, brought further away from the neighbours’ boundary fences and tree and shrub cover will be retained to limit any appreciate loss of amenity. The offices will be used primarily 9am - 5pm weekdays but there may be occasional meetings in the early evening where this is unavoidable. However, the offices which will have significant use, all face onto Crossways’ own property and only infrequently used areas (such as the storage, toilet, spare office and meeting rooms) will be based at the rear of the property.