A CARE centre in a former Hereford music venue is having another £500,000 spent on it by Herefordshire Council.

In 2020, three years after it closed, the council reopened the Hillside Centre as a care and rehabilitation facility for health and social care admissions.

It was, a spokesperson said, to help the NHS through the coronavirus pandemic.

Owned and managed by the council, the 22-bed unit in Pentwyn Avenue underwent a complete refurbishment to the highest standard.

But now the council wants to spend another £500,000 to improve it further.

The centre hosted some of the music industry’s well-known faces during the 1960s, including the Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, Jerry Lee Lewis and Status Quo.

In a decision document, Mandy Appleby, assistant director for adult social care operations, said the refurbishment and landscape works are the second phase at Hillside to complete the residential care facility and improve the dementia-friendly environment.

It follows the decision to spend up to £1 million of the capital programme funding on refurbishment after flooding in 2019 and 2020.

The other element of this project is to adapt one wing of the building and install specialist equipment and technology which will be used to deliver an Independent Living Demonstration and Assessment Centre that will offer facilities for demonstration of equipment, adaptations and technology and offer advice, she said.

Owen Pell Ltd has been identified as the bidder representing the best value for money after a competitive tender and assessment process in accordance with council procurement procedures.

She said the work is to be awarded to Owen Pell Ltd at a cost of £528,799.13.

"There will then follow a value engineering exercise to bring the cost down to meet the construction element value of the budget," she added.

"There is also a boost to the local economy as Owen Pell Ltd is a local contractor."