WORK on the multi-million pound Ravenswood Intermediary Care Centre is on schedule to be finished by February, The Evening Star can today reveal.The centre, costing about £4.
WORK on the multi-million pound Ravenswood Intermediary Care Centre is on schedule to be finished by February, The Evening Star can today reveal.
The centre, costing about £4.2million, will modernise health services in Ipswich and will ease the pressure on the shortage of beds at Ipswich Hospital.
The building will consist of three four-bedroom flats and 20 en-suite bedrooms, a day care centre, a physiotherapy gym, occupational therapists and a support service.
Vital beds will be provided for people who are well enough to leave a general hospital but who still require further physiotherapy or occupational therapy. The centre will also help the current problem in nursing homes, where there is not enough space to take people from Ipswich Hospital.
The project, described as one of the first of its kind in the UK, has been designed by architects The John's Practice and is being built by Ipswich-based company Barnes Construction.
In January, Mayor Penny Breakwell dug the first pieces of earth on the site and since then work has progressed at a steady rate.
A three and a half tonne pre-cast concrete staircase has been lifted into position by a crane and the next stage will see the roof installed.
The semi-circular stairwells will then be clad, and four 800mm high-curved double-glazed sealed units will be positioned around the outside.
The windows will sit in concealed surrounds giving a final appearance of being frameless. When completed the centre is expected to become a role model for similar buildings to be built within the health care system around the country.
Jan Rowsell, spokeswoman for Ipswich Primary Care Trust, who are heading the project, said work on the building was going "very well".
She added: "It will be wonderful for everyone in Ipswich not just in Ravenswood.
"It will mean that people who are well enough to leave hospital but still need support and care before they have fully regained their health and independence can now go to a state-of-the-art centre."
n What do you think of the proposed care centre? Write in to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk or visit the forum at www.eveningstar.co.uk
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here