Construction for new disability accommodation is ready to begin in Orange.
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Westhaven and Excelsior Housing Services are working together to provide architecturally-designed housing for people with a disability in the Central West with two housing projects launched in Orange and Dubbo this week.
The Orange project will be a four-bedroom group home for four long-term residents, as well as additional separate sleeping quarters for an onsite staff member.
The building will look like other houses in the street and each resident will have their own room and private outdoor space. There will also be four communal spaces including two living areas, a kitchen and dining room, as well as a reading nook.
The sods were turned for the house at North Orange on Thursday and construction is expected to begin in June.
Westhaven CEO Andrew Everett said the house is projected to be complete in the first quarter of next year.
"The new homes will provide the next level of innovative and engaging housing for people with a disability across NSW," Mr Everett said.
"We've undertaken what we're calling a co-design process. We've really involved the participants or clients that we have, we've involved our staff and we've worked with architects, and builders, and quantity surveyors to come up with a product that we believe is really sector leading in terms of what is a disability home.
"We're very excited about the program that is multi-million dollars worth of investment that we will be undertaking in the next 18 months."
Mayor Reg Kidd attended the sod turning and said it was important that the people who are going to live in the accommodation got to have input into where they are going to live.
"I think in the past, we've all been guilty of saying look, there's accommodation that's there for someone and not understanding the needs of people," Cr Kidd said..
Westhaven Adult Disability Services general manager Penny Gibbs said specialist disability accommodation delivers more options for improved livability for those who live with disability, and will allow greater independence and quality of life.
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Tanya Marschke
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
