This is what is being built at a Chesterfield site with a fascinating history

The 72-bed home is being built at Ashgate Road on land which previously housed a building where the Volunteer Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters Regiment rehearsed and performed military drill.

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Most recently, the site was a car park owned Chesterfield Borough Council.

In 2018, the authority agreed to sell the land, which has been earmarked for development since the mid-1990s

A spokesperson for HSSP Architects – which came up with the design of the care home – said: “One could be forgiven for not realising the site has such an interesting history.

“To commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897, the town of Chesterfield decided upon the building of a drill hall for the Volunteer Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters Regiment.

“1991 saw the drill hall being demolished, with the land eventually being turned over to a car park, and it is this same land that is now on to the next stage of its life to host a care home.

“The care home has been designed so the positioning of it mimics the location of the original drill hall and reinstates the site’s prominence upon the street scene.

“The length of the building will be broken up by a series of projecting gables with parapet walls to emulate the historical nature of the site.

“It is fitting that a site that once brought local people together with the care of others at the forefront of their operations is doing the same again some 124 years later.

“We look forward to seeing this exciting development unfold and history reincarnated in the next guise of its life.”

A statement on behalf of developer Ashgate Road Development Ltd added: “The facility is designed for older people specialising in palliative and dementia care as regulated by the Care Quality Commission.

“The services provided in the building will broadly fall into four categories: residential care; nursing care; day care; continuing healthcare.”

A car park is also being created to sit alongside the care home.

It has not yet been revealed when it will open.

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