Construction will soon begin on a multi-million pound specialist dementia care home in Kingston.

At Tuesday’s children’s and adults’ care and education committee (November 12) councillors authorised the construction stage of the project, after confirming a maximum price of £13,339,265 for the 80-bed home.

This is less than the estimated £13.4m made in February.

Demolition and construction on the site in Browns Road, Surbiton, will begin in February 2020. 

It is hoped that the building will be handed over to the council in July 2021, with the first resident in the home from November 2021. 

Councillors praised the progress being made and that the project was within budget.

Berrylands Councillor, Anita Schaper, said: “We know it will be well-received, and it is well-needed in the borough,” however Cllr Sushila Abraham warned about concerns over construction. 

She asked for better monitoring to cause the least disruption to residents: “We do know there is the South Place development taking place at the moment. It’s a very narrow road and the residents are already having problems with large vehicles going in,” she said. 

Cllr Maria Netley also asked to see some more detail and images for the home, which have not yet been provided. 

There are estimated to be more than 1,500 residents in Kingston, including people under the age of 65, with dementia.

It is predicted that this will rise to more than 2,100 by 2027.

The committee also approved the expansion of Burlington Junior School from four to five forms of entry (120 to 150 pupils a year) for September 2026.

It is expected there will be pressure on school places in the near future due to the likely development of the adjacent Cocks Crescent Site. 

However, the Infant School voted against expansion as they were concerned about the disruption of building work to the day-to-day operation, availability of funding if not all the additional places were filled, and whether the proposed housing developments would come to fruition in the time scales proposed.

Cllr Netley and Cllr David Ryder-Mills expressed some concerns about the “difficult” decision to expand to five forms on a relatively small site.

However, Cllr Ryder-Mills agreed “dealing with this early is far more sensible.”

The expansion was approved with nine votes for, and two abstentions.

As part of the expansion, Burlington Juniors will replace the CLASP building. 

This building was constructed in the late 1950s and in spring 2017 staff noticed subsidence beneath it. It has since been made safe, but only as a short to medium term fix. 

Planning permission to build the new facilities will go to a future development and control committee in 2020.