The site of a residential care facility in the Isle of Man could transformed into new homes when it closes its doors for the last time.

The Reayrt ny Baie nursing home on Albert Terrace in Douglas will be shut when its residents are moved to new accommodation at Summerhill View when work on the building is finally completed.

The new 60-bed residential care home and day centre on Victoria Road is set to cost the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) just short of £15 million

During a House of Keys sitting earlier this week, the government’s minister for Health and Social Care, Lawrie Hooper, said that while his department had ‘not yet fully considered’ what the Reayrt ny Baie site might look like in the future, staff hadn’t been ‘sat on their hands’ over the scheme.

He said: ‘My personal view is that the site will be very well suited for redevelopment into housing.

‘I look forward to discussing this proposal with stakeholders and partners across government, including the Housing and Communities Board, as matters progress.

‘We discussed this proposal a number of years ago when we were initially thinking about what the future of the Reayrt ny Baie site might be, so there has already been a lot of work already progressed in terms of what the future might look like for the site.

‘We certainly haven't been sat on our hands with the expectation of the site being left vacant for a considerable amount of time.’ Back in 2020, Tynwald approved £11.7 million in funding for the development of the new home to replace Reayrt ny Baie. Recently it was revealed that the cost of the new home had gone over-budget by £2.3m with increased construction costs, supply chain issues, the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and late changes to design all being blamed for the overspend.

Summerhill View was handed over to Manx Care on February 5.

The arm’s length healthcare provider who then launched a search to find a company to run the site.

That process is now nearing completion, according to Mr Hooper, and should be completed in early June.

He said: ‘Following this, the anticipated phased opening of Summerhill View and the commissioning of services are expected to commence in the autumn, which will then enable the transfer of residents from Reayrt ny Baie.’