Longstanding care business Fisher Care Group has utilised a £21m loan from Triodos Bank UK to fund the purchase and development of two care homes, expanding its provision across the North of England. The homes will add 136 beds to the care group’s portfolio, as it seeks to increase its impact in the care sector.
Located in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, The Maltings Care Home will be a 59-bed care home designed to provide compassionate and personalised care. The building has been purchased complete and ready for use, however, Fisher Care plans to develop the facility to meet its specified standards and to deliver consistent, premium service quality. It is expected that the home will be operational by March 2026.
Set in Leeds, Atkinson House will be a 76-bed care home designed for a mixture of care needs. Although the building is complete, Fisher Care plans to develop the home to a top-level standard for the new residents.
With Fisher Care’s head office in Newcastle and an existing two care homes in operation across Yorkshire, these two additions will bring its portfolio to four across the North of England.
Fisher Care’s Operations Director, Joshua Fisher (the son of John Fisher, who founded the care home group in 1986) said: “Our commitment to providing kind, compassionate and safe care services forms the cornerstone of everything we do at Fisher Care Group. These two additions to our portfolio of homes means that we can expand on our mission of providing places that immediately feel like home, where residents and their families can spend precious time together.”
Triodos Bank UK is a specialist, impact-focused lender across social and environmental sectors, including healthcare, education, childcare, arts and culture and recreational sectors.
Ben Honeyman, Senior Relationship Manager at Triodos Bank UK, said: “As part of our focus on wellbeing at Triodos Bank UK, we are committed to financing values-based care providers and supporting the changing needs of the healthcare sector. Fisher Care’s values as a care provider matches those that we carry with us at Triodos and so we are really pleased to be able to support them in their growth.”
Both Atkinson House and The Maltings have development plans which will improve their Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings to ‘A’s in the future. Within this, biomass boilers, photovoltaic panels and ground source heat pumps will be installed in both homes.
Care homes are energy-intensive environments, and the energy market has been in crisis in recent years, with the prices rising significantly towards the end of 2021, hitting a peak over the winter of late 2022 and early 2023, before falling back over the last year or so. Despite this fall, prices are still staggeringly high, with many paying nearly double compared to pre-crisis levels.
For Fisher Care, ensuring that its homes operate as efficiently as possible will help to decrease its costs as well as minimising its greenhouse gas emissions.
Alongside its commitment to green energy solutions, Fisher Care also prides itself on its social impact. The care group works to establish links across its surrounding communities and local schools and through this, brings together local children with the residents for time together doing craft activities, singing or just having a chat.