The ambitious multi-million pound development will deliver a 20 bedded transitional care hub - with community facilities - and 20 new technology enabled properties, all equipped with state of the art telecare systems to support independent living. On the same site there is a further development of 25 new council homes creating new social housing at the centre of Blantyre.

On Friday (November 5) councillors, MSPs and MPs visited the site, along with senior personnel from South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership and the council’s Housing and Technical Resources, to see how the development is taking shape and to receive an update on its delivery.

Chair of South Lanarkshire Integration Joint Board, Councillor John Bradley said: “The Blantyre Care Campus will deliver state-of-the-art health and social care services for South Lanarkshire, and indeed will provide an exemplar for Scotland.

“By supporting and investing in local innovation we will demonstrate a new way of supporting people in homes of their own to live longer and have a better quality of life.”

Director of Health and Social Care Soumen Sengupta said: “We are extremely proud of how the development is taking shape and the incredible work of all those involved in driving it forward through the pandemic.

“We are committed to working with the community of Blantyre – and indeed communities across South Lanarkshire – to deliver a modern and flexible approach to care and support that enables and encourages lifestyles that are in line with people’s hopes and expectations for their later years.

“By providing leading-edge short term transitional care and community facilities the Blantyre Care Hub at the heart of the campus will make a significant contribution to the wellbeing of local people.

“We are also really excited about the Care Hub being a centre of excellence for the development of health and social care skills and supporting unpaid carers in their caring role. The benefits of this forward-looking development will truly be felt across South Lanarkshire and be one that we hope the people of Blantyre will be proud to call it theirs.”

The community facing element of the hub will feature a Technology Enabled Care (TEC) zone designed in collaboration with the Glasgow Science Centre. The TEC zone will showcase how technology can be used to support people to live well, safely, and independently at home.

The Blantyre Care Campus comprises the care hub and a 45 new council homes with the housing consisting of both houses and flats to cater for a wide range of tenancies. These will be built to high quality standards to deliver quality accommodation with low running costs. The housing includes 20 technology enabled homes for use by social care supported tenants.

Chair of South Lanarkshire Council Housing and Technical Resources Committee Councillor Josh Wilson said: “As with all of our new housing the homes on this site are being built to the highest environmental and quality standards possible. Through building and investment our Home+ programme is delivering new homes and investing in improving all our housing stock.

“We have a commitment to delivering 1,000 new council homes to rent, we are also committed to delivering those homes where they are needed across the whole of South Lanarkshire. This development, which is right in the centre of Blantyre, helps meet both those commitments.

 “We recognise people want to remain living in their own homes wherever possible and we work with individual tenants to achieve this. This development will also contribute to that goal.”

The 20 homes on the site that are designed for tenants supported by South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership are described as technology enabled. This includes some mainstream consumer technology that might be found in any modern home, ranging from smart appliances all the way through to telehealth care depending on assessed need.  This new technology will enable people to maximise their independence particularly in later life.

Housing on this development will be completed in stages, with the first residents expected to move in later this year, the Care Hub is due to be completed in summer 2022.