A top North Wales builder has scooped a major award for a ground-breaking new construction project to provide special care for vulnerable people in Mold.
Anwyl Construction have recently completed work on a major £8.5 million project, creating a 63-property extra-care complex in Mold for leading social housing group, Wales & West Housing in partnership with Flintshire County Council.
Now the Llys Jasmine extra care and dementia complex, which includes 61 apartments and two extra care bungalows, has been named as Overall North Wales Winner – Best Social Housing Development in the 2014 Local Authority Building Control Awards at St David’s Park Hotel in Ewloe.
It was one of an impressive four awards won by the Rhyl-based construction company this year – Llys Jasmine also won the Best Social Housing Development for Flintshire, while another Wales & West project, a £15 million social housing scheme at Kingsmills Road, was voted Wrexham County’s top Social/Affordable Hosuing Development.
Anwyl also won the Conwy County award for the Best Community Building for their redevelopment of the historic Judge and Jury pub at 41-43 Station Road, Colwyn Bay, for drug and alcohol abuse charity Cais.
The Station Road development is also up for another major prize after being short-listed for the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors awards for Wales.
The Llys Jasmine development features 33 one-bedroom, 28 two-bedroom and 15 apartments specially designed for people with dementia, plus an additional pair of two-bedroom bungalows. Care staff are available on-site 24 hours a day to deliver care in emergencies or in response to individual care plans, and the site also boasts a restaurant, guest suite, hairdresser, lounges and gardens.
It is due to be officially opened in May by Welsh Government Housing Minister, Carl Sargeant.
Anwyl Construction Director Tom Anwyl said: “We’re naturally delighted to have once again been very successful in the North Wales Building Control Awards.
“We consider them a hugely important accolade and a benchmark for the construction industry in North Wales.
“It’s always nice to have your work recognised and to have it done by the people whose job it is to oversee all the building work that goes on across North Wales is very satisfying.
“It’s especially nice for the site managers who have been in charge of the various developments and for their staff who have worked very hard on these projects.
“In addition the Llys Jasmine and Kingsmills Road projects were major developments in North Wales at a time when there was a nationwide recession and that meant that during difficult times we were able to take people on and secure employment and construction apprenticeships.
“They have been about keeping jobs and making sure we had local involvement in the construction of two major projects which provided major boosts to the local economy.”
Anwyls, founded in 1930 and North Wales’s biggest local house builder, have a wealth of experience of major projects and have worked on a series of developments for Wales & West Housing.
Craig Sparrow, North Wales Development Manager for Wales & West Housing, said: “We have worked in partnership with Anwyl Construction and Flintshire County Council to create this fantastic development.
“It provides state-of-the-art facilities for older people with care and support needs, as well as those requiring specialist dementia care.
“Llys Jasmine is our first extra care scheme in North Wales and will give residents the opportunity to live independently within a supported environment where there are dedicated care staff on-site 24/7 to look after them.
“It is also very close to the town centre, meaning residents remain very much a part of the wider community.
“We’re delighted that Anwyl Construction have carried out this build for us. They have a high reputation for excellence and a wealth of experience of major works like this.”
Councillor Kevin Jones, Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Protection added: “We are so pleased that Llys Jasmine has been nominated for this Building Control award and has been recognised as a state of the art facility.
“It would be difficult to imagine how anyone could do a better job than Anwyl Construction has done at Llys Jasmine.
“Extra care schemes like this are enabling older people to have a new choice of housing and are making a real difference to people’s lives.”
Tom Anwyl added: “This was a complex and very interesting project and we do feel it is important to work with the local authority building control departments in North Wales.
“We choose to use them because we have a good working relationship with them which has been built up over the years. You can talk to them about issues and it works very well for both sides.”
