Care home mooted for derelict Ravenhead Social Club
The club on Alexandra Drive would be demolished and an 80-bed care home with associated parking and gardens built in its place, under plans submitted to St Helens Council.
The application relates to part of the former headquarters of glass manufacturer Pilkington on the western edge of St Helens town centre, close to Alexandra Business Park. The company occupied an Edwin Maxwell Fry-designed complex built between 1959 and 1963, which has since been designated a heritage asset of national importance.
The development site in question is sited on land at the complex that was previously used as a social club and bowling green by Pilkingtons staff and, since the company relocated to other premises in 2015, by local residents. The three-acre site has lain disused since 2016 when the bowling club played its last games.
The social club was partly set on fire in 2021 and the derelict site now mainly comprises an area of hard standing and building materials, which has been fenced off for many years, according to planning documents. It is bounded by housing and mature trees on Lincoln Road and Prescot Road
Now, care home operator Care Partners wants to redevelop the site into three-storey residential facility with 80 bedrooms offering 24-hour wraparound care to residents. Each floor would have ancillary communal areas and key amenities and the residences would be on the ground floor with each room featuring a patio door leading to an area of private outdoor space.
There would also be a central kitchen, hair and nail salon, reception and offices, plant room, café/bistro and other day spaces with varying functions for residents, according to the planning application documents.
ADG Architects has designed the 44,000 sq ft scheme. The planning application is on consultation to the public until next Wednesday (2 November) and a determination deadline has been set for 6 January 2023.
“The proposed 80-bed care home has been carefully designed to respect the surrounding land uses and surrounding environment,” ADG said in the design and access statement.
“By creating a care home on the site it will provide a positive contribution to the local area; providing new jobs and a high quality care facility to suit a range of care needs, that will meet the current and future demand.”
