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Work on a “flagship” housing development for the over-55s on the site of a former care home is now underway.

The development, on the site of the former Ty Darran care home in Risca, will include 45 one-bedroom flats.

Demolition work on the former care home began last year, after Caerphilly Homes – a branch of Caerphilly County Borough Council – was granted outline planning permission by the local authority’s planning committee.

The former care home closed more than a decade ago and planning permission to demolish it was obtained in April 2021.

The council is working with construction firm Willmott Dixon to build the new development, which will include “spacious” apartments and lift access to all floors – and be designed to the “highest levels of energy efficiency”.

It will also include communal outdoor spaces, including a communal garden and community gathering space.

The new development will be used to relocate existing residents from sheltered housing schemes in the area that are set to close.

Council leader Sean Morgan described it as a “significant milestone” in the council’s “ambitious plans to build 1,000 new low carbon affordable homes in the Caerphilly borough over the next ten years”.

Cllr Shayne Cook, the council’s cabinet member for housing, said: “This development will be unlike anything we’ve delivered before as a council and will become a blueprint for later living in the borough.

“It will combine innovative energy-saving solutions with elegant design features and flexible spaces to meet residents’ needs.”