Pioneering aged care site ready for its latest redevelopment

HammondCare’s heartland site, Hammondville, is set for a major transformation as two new aged care homes will be designed and built according to international best practice to support people living with dementia and other complex needs.

Hammondville is an iconic site within Sydney’s southwest, covering 12 hectares of land. The land was first purchased by HammondCare fonder, Reverend Bob Hammond, in 1932. He established the suburb to help families facing homelessness during the Great Depression.

Since then, it has evolved and grown. Australia’s first dementia-specific care home was opened there in 1995, while the expansive site features a communal village centre and five unique aged care homes. They house the most dementia-specific residential care beds in Australia. 

Now, the two new aged care homes will turn the entire precinct into a contemporary, integrated village by replacing the older-style Bond House. This site features low-care, high-care and specialist palliative care services in traditional aged care settings rather than the home-like cottages in the neighbouring homes. 

The project’s announcement was made as Mike Baird also bid farewell to the organisation he has led for the past four years. It’s a lasting legacy that began with Rev Bob Hammond, has been continued by Mr Baird, and will be maintained by many more aged care innovators and leaders.

“I am honoured to announce this outstanding, transformational aged care project for our Hammondville site as one of my final responsibilities as CEO” Mr Baird said.

“Bob Hammond launched an independent charity that was at the cutting edge of responding to community need in the 1930s. He did not wait for governments to act.

“This project is part of HammondCare’s ambition today to set the global standard of relationship-based care, for people with complex needs and to increase our care for those that others won’t or can’t,” he said.

The new eastern aged care home, dedicated to residents living with dementia, will be called Jones in honour of HammondCare’s former Director of Care Services, Olive Jones. The western building will provide general aged care services, retaining the Bond mantle, named after former Director of Nursing and HammondCare Board member Rosemary Bond.

Each care home will have three apartments with 15 ensuite rooms and domestic spaces to be shared by residents and staff. A new community hub with a general store designed for people with dementia will also include a hairdresser & barber, “The Watering Hole”, a men’s shed, a community garden, kids’ playground and administrative spaces.

A total of 90 beds will be located across both buildings.

Former Independent MP John is an original resident of Hammondville, having lived there as a child with his family. He still calls it home today and praised the support for his wife who sadly passed away last year due to dementia.

“It’s quite an emotional day for me because Hammondville goes back to 1932. I’m 91 years of age,” Mr Hatton, an original Hammondville resident told Nine News. 

“Every person in that village was destitute, homeless and unemployed. Unemployed people gave their labour to build huts in the bush with benefactors seeing the benefit of their donations.”

“I saw the impact [on my wife], I saw the need for loving care, for family, for understanding, for atmosphere they could identify with and this is what this project is doing.”

Construction of the new aged care homes is expected to begin in 2025 subject to the planning approval of a modification to the current development consent by Liverpool City Council. A fly-through of the new project is available here.