The Mayor of Southampton, Ivan White, enjoyed a ground-breaking experience at a new £8.4 million care home in Southampton, Hampshire.

Mr White was the guest of honour at the official ceremony to mark the start of the foundation dig at Anchor's newest development, Mayflower Court, on Westwood Road.

He visited the site with Anchor's Chief Financial Officer, David Springthorpe, and Paul Strachan, from construction company Midas, to see how the site will be turned into a care home.

Mayflower Court will be a 72 bed care home over four floors which will also include a café, craft room and hair and beauty salon. The home will also provide specialist care for people living with dementia.

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Midas won the contract to build the development for Anchor, England's largest not-for-profit provider of housing and care to older people. Mayflower Court will open in the spring of 2015.

Anchor's Chief Financial Officer David Springthorpe said: "We are very excited that work has started on Mayflower Court. People will be able to make the most of living in a spectacular care home. Mayflower Court is another step forward in Anchor putting solutions in place that meet its customers' changing needs."

The project is the second major building scheme Anchor is working on with Midas in Hampshire, after beginning work earlier this year on Hampshire Lakes a £37million, retirement village in Yateley. Hampshire Lakes will include over a hundred independent and assisted living apartments and a 36 bed care home. Other facilities include a restaurant, deli, juice bar, library, wellness centre and spa, fully equipped gym, craft room and treatment rooms, all in an idyllic lakeside setting in the Hampshire countryside.

(CD)