Disability charity Capability Scotland has signed an exclusivity agreement with leading home builder Springfield for land to develop a flagship £28 million complex-needs facility.

The agreement sets out a joint responsibility to negotiate a development plan to construct the residential care facility, which will be built in Bertha Park Village, a new development on the outskirts of Perth. Bertha Park Village, which includes around 500 houses, a local shop and playpark and a Microsoft flagship high school, won Scottish Home Awards’ Development of the Year in 2022.

Residents from Capability Scotland’s existing facility near Perth’s city centre will be relocated to the new site. The venture, named Our Inclusive Community Project (OICP), aims to develop  facilities and initiatives that give residents and wider service users more opportunities to participate and flourish as part of a growing, new community. 

Residents attended workshops alongside family members, staff and the wider community to co-produce how the facility will look, and what it will offer to its service users. 

Once a development plan has been successfully negotiated, it is hoped ownership of the site will transfer to Capability Scotland upon handover of the completed site by Springfield. The partnership aims to submit a planning application to the local council by the end of this year. 

Innes Smith,  Springfield chief executive, said: “Now, working with the great team at Capability Scotland, it’s our shared plan to introduce one of the most sophisticated care sites in the entire country to the Bertha Park community.  Already we have had a number of ideas for the care facility, and we hope to secure an agreement very soon to take this project to the next step.” 

Brian Logan, Capability Scotland chief executive, said: “There is much work ahead of us as we move towards a detailed planning application, but it is great to have this piece of the jigsaw in place. Such opportunities to develop services and facilities from a blank canvas are rare, and we look forward to the next steps, working with the people we support, their families, our colleagues and our strategic partners to bring about an exemplar facility which will deliver first-class care and support for disabled people.”