The City Mayor, Peter Soulsby and Deputy City Mayor for social care Cllr Sarah Russell, joined Scope Construction Ltd, on Wednesday 21st August to break ground on Leicester City Council’s first new purpose-built children’s home for several years, with more recent projects relying on the conversion of existing buildings.

The £1.8 million project is backed by £800,000 from the Department for Education.  Scope started construction earlier this month on the new children’s home in Braunstone, which will provide purpose-built accommodation for seven young people, between the ages of eight and 17.

The scheme will see the construction of a two storey children’s home to provide new living accommodation, communal facilities and ancillary accommodation.  It will include five en-suite bedrooms, as well as two self-contained flats, a waking staff office and a staff sleeping room.  Additionally, there will be a communal lounge, dining area, kitchen, training room, games room and staff offices, with a garden to the rear for planting vegetables.  The building will also feature a range of energy efficiency measures including roof-mounted photo-voltaic panels and air source heat pumps.

Maz Patel, Managing Director of Scope Construction said:

“We are delighted to have been appointed by Leicester City Council to deliver their first new build Children’s Home for many years.  It is great to be breaking ground on this latest project. Scope and our local supply chain take pride in the work we do and we aim to deliver another first-class project for the client and the local community. We look forward to continuing our strong working relationship with the council”

Leicester City Council appointed Loughborough-based Scope Construction as its development partner for the ambitious project, following a competitive tendering exercise.  Scope will also be working with Loughborough based Architects – A+G and Leicester based Structural Engineers - BSP.
 
As a local SME contractor Scope work with local supply chains, which means almost all of the council’s spend will have a direct impact on the Leicester and Leicestershire economy.  Scope is also committed to supporting the council’s Social Value objectives, in particular, providing opportunities to young people.

The new children’s home in the west of the city, is being built on council-owned land which has been vacant for around ten years and will also act as a training hub for social care staff, foster carers and other professionals.

Deputy City Mayor for social care, Cllr Sarah Russell, said:
“The city council is determined to provide the best possible care for the children and young people we look after. The vast majority of children who can’t live with their birth families live with foster carers, but this isn’t right for everyone, and increasing demand for children’s social care services in recent years means there has been a significant rise in demand for residential children’s homes. This is the case across the country.  Providing more children’s homes within the city means children and young people can continue to receive support within their communities rather than them moving away from Leicester. This continuity and stability can be very important to children experiencing major disruption to their lives.”

Construction is expected to take around one year to complete, with the new children’s home likely to open in late-2025.