J Tomlinson hands over dementia care refurbishment scheme to the Royal British Legion

A state‐of‐the‐art dementia care refurbishment scheme delivered across a live and occupied Royal British Legion care home has been handed over by J Tomlinson’s refurbishment and engineering team.

Scope of works

The £2.3m project took place at Galanos House in Warwickshire – one of six care homes owned and run by the Legion, which provide short and long‐term care designed specifically for veterans and their families.

Works undertaken by J Tomlinson included creation of two extensions to support increased capacity within the home, as well as landscaping and car parking works. As well as providing ten additional dementia care bedrooms to the home’s award‐winning Poppy Lodge, J Tomlinson also worked with the client to create a new community hub which features a new day care facility, a café, and treatment rooms. As part of the project, the company installed new energy‐efficient features to help future-proof the building and maximise the comfort of residents and staff. These included a new Building Management System (BMS), new boilers, underfloor heating, LED lighting and thermal insulation.

Covid-19 working

A portion of the project was delivered throughout the Covid‐19 pandemic, with J Tomlinson working closely with client the Royal British Legion to help ensure the safety and wellbeing of residents, staff and visitors throughout the duration of the scheme. This was achieved through phased and weekend‐working, clear segregation, detailed risk assessments (reviewed daily), and regular, meetings with the wider project team to communicate and share key updates and best practice.

Other care schemes delivered by J Tomlinson

This marks the most recent care‐related building project managed and delivered by J Tomlinson, with other recently‐completed schemes including internal upgrades to Pannel Croft Retirement
Village (owned and managed by The Extra Care Charitable Trust), and the transformation of the former Nethercrest Care Centre into a state‐of‐the‐art assisted living complex on behalf of client
Precious Homes.

Quote from Iain Davies - managing director of refurbishment and engineering, J Tomlinson:

Iain Davies, managing director (refurbishment and engineering) at J Tomlinson commented: “We are pleased to have successfully handed over a high‐quality refurbishment scheme to the Royal British Legion. J Tomlinson’s considerable experience deliver unobtrusive building and maintenance works across live, specialist care environments saw us working closely with the client’s wider project team to efficiently deliver a Covid‐19 safe scheme, with the safety and wellbeing of residents and staff at the forefront of our combined efforts.”

Armed Forces and Dementia Support

J Tomlinson continues to pledge its support for the armed forces community. In 2017, the organisation signed the Armed Forces Covenant, and in 2018 it was recognised as Ministry of Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Silver Award winner in testament to our commitment to the recruitment, support and career development of armed forces community/service personnel.

As well as being active supporters of the armed forces community, J Tomlinson is also a dementia-friendly organisation, committed to working its extra care clients and stakeholders to help people live well with dementia. The company’s extra‐care partners currently include MHA, Hamberley Care, HC One, Housing & Care 21 and The Extra Care Charitable Trust.

Quote from Steve Barnett - assistant director of operations, the Royal British Legion

Steve Barnett, Assistant Director of Operations for the Royal British Legion commented, “We would like to thank J Tomlinson for the work they have done for the Legion in developing our excellent new facilities at Galanos House. J Tomlinson have worked extremely collaboratively with the team at Galanos House and have ensured that the impact on residents and visitors to the Home has been considered throughout. Our ten additional dementia care bedrooms are now being used, and we look forward to opening the Community Hub as soon as we are able to.”

About the Royal British Legion

Founded in 1921 following World War One, the Royal British Legion is the country’s largest Armed Forces charity, providing lifelong support to Service and ex‐Service personnel and their families through hardships, injuries and bereavements. The Legion offers support in many ways including providing crisis grants, sport and art-based recovery programmes, specialist dementia care, and supporting with benefits and money issues.

About J Tomlinson

Founded in the 1950s, J Tomlinson has its headquarters in Beeston, Nottingham, and regional offices in Canwell in the West Midlands, Wakefield in Yorkshire, Wigan in Greater Manchester, and Billingham in Stockton-on-Tees.

The company works across a wide range of key sectors to provide a range of integrated building solutions including refurbishment, engineering services, construction, facilities management, and
repairs and maintenance.

For more information about J Tomlinson, visit www.jtomlinson.co.uk.