Barchester invests €50m in facility

Barchester, the UK nursing home chain backed by former Kerry chief, Denis Brosnan, and a group of high-profile Irish shareholders, is investing €50 million in a facility in the Republic.

The company is taking over an uncompleted retirement village in Trim, Co Meath, which was left vacant after its original owner, HC Developments, was placed in examinership last year.

The Irish Times confirmed yesterday that Barchester, whose other stakeholders include bloodstock magnate, John Magnier, his associate, JP McManus, and financier, Dermot Desmond, is taking over the facility in its first move into this country.

The group plans to invest €50 million in buying the development from Michael McAteer of accountants Foster McAteer, the court-appointed examiner to HC Developments, and then completing the retirement village.

When it is finished, the complex will include an 85-bedroom care home. It will have 41 one- and two-bedroom "close care" apartments, 28 two-bed bungalows and a 2,800sq m (30,139sq ft) medical centre. Barchester plans to begin selling the apartments next summer.

The complex will employ 200 people at full capacity. The company has appointed Gary Watson, a chartered surveyor with more than 10 years' experience in the business, to lead its Irish operation.

Mr Watson said yesterday the company intended seeking other suitable investment opportunities in Ireland and added that he believed the expansion was a key strategic move for Barchester.

He said the company was offering a world-class standard of care. "Irish people deserve to be offered this level of care," he said.

HC Developments was founded in Cork by a couple, Daniel and Kathleen Lordan.

It hired construction firm, PJ Hegarty, to build the retirement village. It is understood that it was to be paid €21.5 million for the work. However, after around 20 per cent of the village was completed, HC was unable to continue paying the firm.

Denis Brosnan chairs Barchester and has overseen its growth into the biggest private nursing home operator in the UK. Along with its Irish backers, it has several dozen shareholders.