Major Refurbishment Begins On West Sussex Children's Homes

Friday, 23 October 2020 09:32

Work to refurbish three West Sussex children's homes has begun.

Cissbury Lodge in Worthing, May House in Durrington and Seaside in Shoreham are being remodelled and modernised to cater for children and young people with a wide range of needs.

Across the three West Sussex County Council-owned sites there will be a total of 19 bedrooms and a mixture of communal and quiet rooms, sensory and therapy spaces, life skills kitchens and dining areas and family areas.

New outdoor spaces will contain sensory gardens, play areas and green spaces and the homes will offer full-time and short breaks support for those aged between 11-17.

It follows extensive consultation with a range of groups - led by the Council's Multi Disciplinary Consultant (MDC) team Faithful+Gould - including health and social care professionals, residential care staff and the local communities which helped shape the final designs.

Jacquie Russell, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, took part in a recent visit to Cissbury Lodge and said:

"It was very exciting for me to visit Cissbury to see for myself the huge amount of progress that has already been made in terms of the physical refurbishment, coupled with some innovative visionary plans that clearly illustrate the depth of thought that is still going into ensuring we are creating the best homes and spaces for our children and young people who will use them.

"This initial visit left me in no doubt that everybody involved in all three of our refurbishment projects is passionate, committed and dedicated to delivering the right outcome and I am very much looking forward to further revisits as the schemes progress."

The work at Cissbury is being carried out by Westridge Construction Ltd and A&F Pilbeam is carrying out the work at May House and Seaside.
Keiran Page, MDC Director for Children and Young People, and his colleagues from Faithful+Gould, Hannah Febery and Elena Budd, presented the scheme on site at Cissbury to Jacquie.

Keiran said:

"It was great to share the progress of this exciting project and on behalf of the team, I can say it is an honour to support such a fantastic service and provide the improved facilities, that will truly make a difference to the lives of children and young people. We look forward to sharing the progress on all three homes as they develop."

The three homes have not been in use since August 2018, following an Ofsted inspection of Seaside. The council then conducted a review of its children's residential estate and took the decision to temporarily close the two other homes.

All three are due to reopen in the spring next year to add to the three other County Council-run children's homes.