Parkes residents with a good memory may recall that it was over 20 years ago in 1993 that Southern Cross Care built the Southern Cross retirement village in town.
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During that time, Parkes has continued to grow and prosper as a strategically important country town and the population has continued to rise.
Now Southern Cross Care is renewing its commitment to provide outstanding retirement living and aged care services to the central west with the launch of its home care service and the redevelopment of Southern Cross Village.
Almost $40 million is being spent to upgrade and extend the village.
Work is being carried out in stages, with the first of 11 new living units (two and three bedroom) complete, and work already underway on another 10.
Once the new units are finished, existing residents will be given the opportunity to occupy them.
It is expected the older units will then be demolished to make way for more new ones.
The same applies to the aged care area which includes residents of high level care.
A new larger, top level facility for an increased number of patients is being constructed.
The old section will also then be knocked down to make way for more retirement units.
The entire project will take a couple of years and result in a brand new village.
Construction started during October last year and has been a significant source of employment for local trades people with an average of 25 workers on site each day.
When complete, the village will feature up to 109 retirement living units and the new, state of the art residential aged care building for 62 residents.
The building has been designed with Environmentally Sustainable Design principles, modern rooms and facilities, and an automated ventilation system allowing the building to breathe and integrate the indoor and outdoor environment.
The village will also get new community features such as a café, hair salon, children’s play area and landscaped walking path with low impact exercise stations to promote health, mobility and activity.
The first new residents will move into the first stage of retirement living units in November this year with construction on the rest of the village continuing through next year.