In 2012 work began to explore future service delivery options for adults with learning and physical disabilities.
There was a need to ensure that the Council utilised its assets effectively by providing appropriate accommodation for staff and accessible facilities to provide services from. There was also a need to ensure that buildings were designed to support the future needs of these services.
Disability services operated from accommodation across the Borough in including Warren Road Day Centre, Havelock Centre, Cromwell Street Centre and others.
These buildings were in excess of forty years old and were designed around an outdated industrial and rehabilitative model of community care.
The buildings had been adapted numerous times over many years in an attempt to meet the changing needs of the service.
With the introduction of the Equality Act and greater emphasis on the needs of adults with a disability the Local Authority understood that it needed to improve the life chances of disabled people.
Equality impact assessments highlighted major issues with the existing accommodation and facilities. Even with significant investment there would still be deficiencies that could not be remedied. In addition services were distributed across a number of buildings causing access and transport problems for those people accessing the services. What was needed was a single building to be the focus of these services that was suitable to deliver both therapeutic interventions but meet the diverse needs of people whilst also providing a venue for the local community in a central / accessible location.
