Bryn Seiont Newydd crowned as best new care home in UK

Pendine Park’s £7 million centre of excellence for dementia care in Gwynedd has been crowned as the best new care home in the UK.

Bryn Seiont Newydd, in Caernarfon, took the top prize in the main category at the prestigious Pinders Healthcare Design Awards 2016.

The glittering Oscars-style presentation ceremony attended by 2,000 people was held at the four-star Lancaster Hotel, in London.

Bryn Seiont Newydd was opened last November on the leafy five-acre site of the former Ysbyty Bryn Seiont community hospital on the outskirts of Caernarfon.

The bilingual, 71-bed facility is already full and has created more than 100 much-needed jobs in the area.

The centre, designed by Denbigh-based chartered building surveyors Wynn Rogers and built by Ruthin-based Carroll's, is divided into eight small, family-like units so that the residents receive individual care and attention while benefiting from the back-up of a larger organisation

Work is now underway to build 16 companion living apartments to help couples stay independent for longer.

The development is the brainchild of Mario Kreft MBE and his wife, Gill, who founded Pendine Park just over 30 years ago when they were unable to find suitable social care for their own grandparents.

Mario, who is also the chair of Care Forum Wales and received his MBE for services to social care, said: "We are absolutely thrilled that Bryn Seiont Newydd has been recognised as the best new care home in the UK.

"We are particularly proud that we have been able to invest in North West Wales and build Bryn Seiont Newydd without any public funding.

"The fact there has been so much interest so soon is a clear demonstration of the need for the services that we are providing here for the community.

"We have been deeply touched by the warmth of the welcome we have received from the local community and the genuine enthusiasm for what we are aiming to achieve.

"While getting the fabric of the building right was extremely important, what makes Bryn Seiont even more special is the fantastic, committed team we have working here.

"The golden thread running through everything we do is our award-winning enrichment programme which put the arts right at the centre of how we improve the quality of life for our residents and also the staff looking after them

"We have appointed a musician and an artist in residence because we want our residents to have opportunities to engage in the arts and music as we know from experience the massive benefits this can bring to their lives."