WORK has started on a "luxury" £6m care home which will create up to 80 jobs in the New Forest.

The 57-bed complex, which is due to open next spring, will be equipped with a hair and nail salon and its own cinema.

A brick-laying ceremony has already been held at the site in Barrs Avenue, New Milton.

It comes just weeks after it was announced that a care home being built in another part of the Forest is set to create more than 100 jobs.

The New Milton home will form part of Cinnamon Care Collection, recently named by carehome.co.uk as one of the top 20 care home groups in the UK.

Pupils from Ballard School, New Milton, have been invited to suggest suitable names for the home and the winning entry will be announced next month.

David Reaves, Cinnamon's head of marketing, said: "There is a growing need for quality care in the region, which is why we are opening a second care home in this area.

"We are passionate about offering exceptional residential, dementia and respite care.

“Our care home in New Milton will be a purpose-built, exclusive care home with large, luxurious en-suite rooms and impressive facilities.

"It complements our highly-rated care home in Lyndhurst - Hartwood House - and will offer the same level of excellent care in an equally high quality environment."

The complex is being built by the Highwood Group.

Managing director Guy Hayward said: "This is the latest of many collaborations with Cinnamon Care. Our very successful relationship spans eight years and eight care projects and we’re proud of the award-winning schemes we’ve developed together."

The home will create up to 80 full and part-time jobs, with vacancies including carers, kitchen assistants and gardeners, plus a housekeeper and heads of department. Recruitment will start early next year.

Last month it was revealed that a care home being built at Hythe will create more than 100 jobs.

The £5.5m Carpathia Grange complex, which is due to open later this year, will provide full-time residential, nursing and specialist dementia care for up to 62 people.

Run by Care UK, the three-storey building will also have its own cinema and hair salon.

The New Forest is home to a large number of older residents, with a particularly high concentration of pensioners living in the New Milton area, including the coastal communities of Milford on Sea and Barton on Sea.

By 2033 34% of the district's population will be over the age of 65.

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