Work will start on a new £6 million care home in Whitehaven on Monday.

The new 60-bed residential care home, on the former Sekers site on Cleator Moor Road, will open in 2019.

It will replace Dentholme, Castle Mount, Pow Beck and Brackenthwaite care homes.

Cumbria County Councillor Peter Thornton, cabinet member for health and care services said: “This is an exciting development and the whole of Cumbria, particularly the Copeland and Allerdale area will feel the benefits of this significant investment for many years to come.

“Cumbria County Council appointed Eric Wright Construction to work with them to develop the design for the building that will meet the needs of older people for generations to come.”

Councillor David Southward, cabinet member for Property added: “The new care home is part of a wider modernisation programme of care in the Copeland and Allerdale area which as well as providing the home also offers people a wide range of other choices, including receiving more help to live independently in their own homes and the provision of extra care housing schemes.”

John Wilson, managing director from Eric Wright Construction, said: “This unique development has been carefully designed and planned to allow older local residents to maintain their quality of life in a place that’s safe and meets individual care needs.

“We’re working on a growing number of complex care schemes across the UK as local authorities recognise the benefits that they bring to health and well-being.

"As a group, we’ve a long history of working alongside Cumbria County Council and look forward to getting underway on site.”

This will be the last of the three planned new Cumbria Care homes to open and follows on from the opening of Parkview Gardens in Barrow which opened earlier this year.

Work on the site of the new care home in Carlisle has recently begun and will also open in 2019.

A sod-cutting ceremony will be held in Whitehaven on Monday to mark the start of the work.