Beard breaks ground on final phase of Wiltshire retirement village

South-focused construction contractor Beard has begun work on the last two apartment blocks at a luxury retirement village at the site of the former MoD naval college near Corsham in Wiltshire.

The project at Wadswick Green, worth £18.1 million, will see Beard build the last remaining accommodation, comprising three storeys, to be known as Walnut Lane. Eight out of 10 blocks have already been completed and are mostly occupied.

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Beard said it had worked closely with Rangeford Villages to shield residents in the existing apartments from any nuisance from the construction.

Rangeford CEO Howard Nankivell said: "We are very excited to be very near completing the latest in our collection of luxury retirement villages.

"Our villages are exciting, innovative and contemporary and we offer the best quality of accessible accommodation including very high energy efficiency standards. With their impressive track record in luxury senior living and sustainable development, Beard is an ideal partner in helping us deliver this final phase."

Beard's Swindon director Jamie Harwood added: "We are thrilled to be involved in this project and look forward to delivering great accommodation as part of this innovative retirement village. It’s a great opportunity to showcase our expertise and experience in building high-quality accommodation for older people."

The two new blocks will house 45 individual apartments. One of the blocks will be split into four communal cores, each core with its own communal entrance hall with passenger lift and staircase for each. The other block will be similar but with three communal cores.

To achieve maximum energy efficiency, Beard is installing air source heat pumps and photovoltaic arrays to generate heating and supplementary electrical power, and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery in each apartment.

In its 130-plus year history, Beard has completed on several specialist projects in the retirement sector, including two deluxe care homes in Caversham and Farnham.