Work starts on new £13.5 million care home

The 62-bed home is being built in Butler’s Green Road and is due to open next winter.

It is to replace the nearby Bupa Downlands Park Care Home which is to close in 2017.

Officials say that the new home will provide better facilties for staff and residents, as well as create 30 new jobs.

The new home will include a multipurpose activity room, a beauty salon and landscaped gardens. All bedrooms will be en-suite.

Haywards Heath Mayor Sujan Wickremaratchi marked the start of work at a special ceremony at the site on Wednesday when staff, residents, families and friends buried a time capsule filled with memorabilia.

They included newspapers from the day and past newspaper cuttings, present-day money - both coins and notes - and a variety of memories of the local areawritten by residents who grew up in area.

Downlands Park home manager Karen Harman said: “We are really pleased to be starting work on our new care home. We believe the home will offer the very best in tailored care, with first class facilities for residents and we are looking forward to seeing the home fully operational next year.”