THE details of plans for a “luxury” care home in Dunfermline are now live.

The Press reported previously that proposals had been submitted to Fife Council for the erection of a new 60-bed facility on the former Royal Air Force/Navy strategic command centre site – which closed in 1996 – adjacent to Pitreavie Castle.

The care home, set for Castle Drive, has been designed by Edinburgh-based Yeoman McAllister Architects and will include a range of communal facilities for residents to enjoy including external garden areas, a café, piano bar, games room, hair salon and cinema.

It will also create 65 full-time and part-time jobs.

The facility is proposed by the Glasgow-based Simply Group and will be operated by Morar Living.

The planning application is now live on Fife Council’s planning website and the scale of the proposed facility has been revealed.

A planning statement provided by Dunfermline-based Derek Scott Planning on behalf of Simply, stated: “The application submitted seeks detailed planning permission for the erection of a purpose-built 60-bed care home facility positioned on the eastern part of the site.

“The western part of the site will be retained for future development. The proposal will provide specialist respite, dementia, palliative, convalescence and nursing care within an environment that will fully meet the requirements of the Care Inspectorate, particularly in relation to COVID-compliant design.

“The care home will be sub-divided into six separate compartments, each with 10 en-suite bedrooms, a quiet lounge and a day room.

“A range of communal and amenity spaces will also be provided including a cafe, piano bar, games room, hair salon and cinema. All residents will benefit from communal amenity and comforting landscaped spaces outdoors, some of which will be directly accessible from rooms at ground-floor level.

“The three-storey element to the south accommodates, at basement level, all service facilities including a plant room, laundry/linen stores, kitchen, staff room, lockers, cycle storage and a garden store.

“(A total of) 22 car-parking spaces (including two disabled spaces) have been proposed within a main car park facility with 12 additional spaces proposed within a spillover parking area.

“The facility proposed will generate 65 full- and part-time employment opportunities with a maximum of 20 staff being present in the building at any one time.”

Information submitted in support of the application identifies a requirement for an additional 120 care home bed spaces in the town, which has a rapidly-expanding population and a projected 73 per cent growth in the pensioner age group by 2043.

Neil Dobbie, Simply’s land director, commented: “We are delighted to be bringing this much-needed state-of the-art care facility to Dunfermline.

“It has been sensitively designed to exacting standards, taking cognisance of the surrounding area, and will produce the highest-quality environment for our residents.”

Subject to receiving planning permission from the council, it’s hoped that construction work could begin on the site in 2022 with the first residents moving in during 2023.