Built With Care. Enhancing Everyday Life for Loreto residents
Built with care: Enhancing everyday life for Loreto Home of Compassion residents.
A major redevelopment at Loreto Home of Compassion is transforming life for residents by replacing shared bathrooms with individual private ensuites, delivering greater comfort, dignity, and independence. With Stage 2 recently completed, the project is already being described as a win for residents, staff, and the local building team behind it.
The ensuite upgrades, undertaken by Stephen Lawrence Constructions (SLC) – a local, family-owned business operating in Wagga for more than 30 years – have been rolled out in carefully planned stages to minimise disruption for residents. “The bathroom upgrade for Loreto is all the same basic plan,” explains Project Manager Brendon Post. “We're modifying a double bathroom into single ensuites for each bedroom.”
Stage 2 includes 16 new ensuites while Stage 3 – commencing early - August and scheduled for completion in early December – will add another 10. Stage 1 was 12 ensuites. Brendon adds, “Each stage follows the same layout and functionality, which helps maintain consistency and predictability in the building process. That’s important in a project like this. Feedback from staff has been overwhelmingly positive and we’ve had comments that things worked really well from Stage 1. We haven’t had to make any changes so we’ve taken that as a sign we’ve nailed it from the start.”
For SLC’s team, working in a residential aged care environment comes with distinct challenges or considerations that need to be made. “We’re very mindful that this is not a construction site – it’s someone’s home. We gave plenty of notice for noisy works, changed our demolition techniques to speed up the process, and scheduled the noisiest jobs outside of rest periods.”
Safety and accessibility have been at the heart of the design. “The rooms have all the handrails, nurse call buttons, and bathroom fixtures to support mobility,” Brendon says. “Safety is paramount and nothing has been overlooked.”
For Brendon the reward in the project comes from knowing the shift from shared to private bathrooms is more than just structural, it’s also personal. “I think it improves the residents’ living standard quite dramatically,” Brendon reflects. “As we get older, it's nice to have that little bit of privacy. I think it helps with dignity and a level of pride.”
As locals, the project holds a special significance for the SLC team. “Wagga’s a small place, and everyone knows everyone. You hear things up the street like ‘my grandmother lives there’ or ‘you’ve made a difference.’ That makes it really satisfying. It’s like we’re doing our bit to help care for their loved ones.”
With Stage 3 on the horizon, SLC’s team focus remains clear: to continue delivering spaces that feel like home – private, practical, and built with care.
