Former Kelso High School to be extra care homes

Building work is now under way at the former Kelso High School, which is being turned into 36 new homes for extra care by Eildon Housing.
The former Kelso High School.The former Kelso High School.
The former Kelso High School.

The social landlord is working with local contractor M. & J. Ballantyne on the project, and architect Aitken Turnbull’s sympathetic design includes retaining the art deco facade of the attractive listed building.

Phase two of the project will see a further 16 homes including two two-bedroom properties with wheelchair access, being built.

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Nile Istephan, chief executive at Eildon Housing, said of its new five-year strategy: “Our new strategy focuses on the responses given from the three key groups we consulted: our customers, our stakeholders and our people (board and staff members).

"The issues that came out most strongly were that we should continue to provide new high quality, affordable and sustainable homes for our communities and develop and deliver new services to respond to the specific needs of our older population, those living with dementia and groups vulnerable to becoming homeless.

"In addition to our very ambitious growth strategy, which will invest many millions of pounds in the Borders and generate and sustain hundreds of jobs, we will also be investing heavily in improving and modernising our existing homes and services.

"We will be creating a new squad to deliver the next phase of our modernisation programme to renew kitchens, bathrooms and heating systems in our existing homes, and also making greater use of technology to give our customers greater choice in how they receive services from us.”

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