How Do We Unlock the Opportunity for New Care Homes?
According to the Guardian the total number of beds available in care homes fell between 2010 and 2016 from 255,289 to 235,799 – a fall of 19,490. More than one in 10 residential homes closed during that period.
The reasons for this are clearly nothing to do with lack of demand. In fact, if you were just looking to invest in a sector with guaranteed future business, care homes would be hard to beat.
The reason we haven’t seen major investment in building new care home capacity has everything to do with the frailty of the business case. The demand may be there, but the margins are so tight that any risk to the costs or timing of the build, or doubts over running costs for the new facility, is enough to deter investment.
There is a very human side to this problem. Not enough care home places mean elderly people struggling to cope in their own homes or, worse still, stuck in a hospital bed because there’s nowhere else to care for them. Our senior citizens deserve better!
A More Secure Business Case
As a construction business we can’t do much about the amount commissioning bodies are able to pay for care. But we can do something about creating a more secure business case that takes significant risks out of expanding care home capacity.
We developed a hybrid solution combining our own System and precast concrete floors to deliver energy efficient care home capacity, cost-effectively, on time, and on budget. The solution works for new homes and for extensions. It can also easily be added to in future years when needed.
A major advantage is that the new facilities will be completed and ready for residents significantly quicker than with a traditional build. This is good news for people waiting for a care home place and it achieves a quicker return on the investment for care home owners and their investors.
The hybrid system was also designed to cause minimum disruption to existing residents. The entire structure, including foundations, is manufactured offsite and delivered and assembled as needed. Even on a restricted site there are no issues with constant deliveries, material storage or large construction teams.
Energy Efficient
And when the facility is completed you can be confident that it will be efficient to heat. Our System panels achieve excellent levels of thermal insulation and air-tightness. The promised thermal performance is designed into the structure.
Care home owners may be aware of the potential benefits of a panelised offsite solution but maybe didn’t consider it because it’s seen as new and unfamiliar – even though it’s been around for years and is fully proven.
The good news is that you are in safe hands. Innovaré delivers the entire process from design and engineering, through manufacturing to installation. There is just one partner to work with and a continuous chain of custody and support. We believe that this system coupled with end-to-end support is what is needed to unlock the opportunity to bring badly needed care home capacity on stream.
If you’ve been considering expanding your care home but put off by potential risks, call our Innovaré team on 0845 674 0020 and together we’ll explore your opportunities. For more information visit our website.
