Ty Darran Later Living Scheme in Caerphilly

On the site of a former care home in Risca, Willmott Dixon has delivered 45 high-quality apartments for residents aged 60 and over, and a blueprint that Caerphilly Homes intends to follow for years to come.

Completed in February 2025 and developed in close partnership with Caerphilly Homes and specialist partner Caledan, Ty Darran provides 3,734m² of modern, independent later-living space designed to support residents' independence, wellbeing and sense of belonging. It is, in the words of Caerphilly Council's Cabinet Member for Housing, "unlike anything we've delivered before."

What we delivered

Ty Darran provides 45 one-bedroom apartments for residents aged 60 and over, set across a single development designed from the ground up around the way later-living residents actually want to live. Independence, comfort and connection sit at the heart of every design decision.

The scheme combines private apartments with a generous mix of indoor and outdoor communal spaces, including a landscaped central garden with planting, quiet seating areas and a welcoming gathering space, so that residents can choose company or privacy as they please. Accessibility, safety and ease of daily living are built in throughout.

It is significantly more than a housing project. The development represents long-term investment in people and place: in giving older residents of Risca a high-quality home in their own community, and in showing what is possible when a council and contractor work as one team from day one.

A flagship partnership

Caerphilly Homes is the wholly council-owned housebuilder for Caerphilly County Borough Council, with a remit to deliver high-quality affordable homes across the borough. Ty Darran is the most ambitious scheme it has commissioned to date, and it has been delivered through one of the most genuinely integrated partnerships we have worked in.

From the earliest design stages, the Caerphilly Homes development team, our site team, and our specialist partner Caledan worked as a single team rather than three separate parties around a contract. Decisions about design, materials, sequencing and resident experience were taken jointly. Challenges were surfaced early and resolved early. Every choice was tested against the same question: what will deliver the best outcome for the residents who will live here?

"Ty Darran has become a real flagship later-living development in Risca. It stands as a true example of what collaboration can accomplish, working seamlessly as one integrated team from concept to completion, overcoming complex challenges and setting a new benchmark for modern construction. We hope Ty Darran becomes more than just a place to live, we hope it becomes a community, filled with comfort, friendship and independence for many years to come."

Ian Jones, Director, Willmott Dixon

Designed for sustainable, independent living

For residents on fixed incomes, the cost of running a home matters as much as the cost of buying or renting it. The building has been designed to deliver high levels of energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions and keeping residents' fuel bills as low as possible across the building's full life. Low-cost, low-carbon living is not a value-add at Ty Darran, it is part of the brief.

That commitment is reflected in the wider design too. The communal garden and shared indoor spaces are designed to encourage daily, easy interaction between neighbours, the small moments of community life that have a measurable impact on health and wellbeing in older age. The opening ceremony, attended by the Risca Male Voice Choir, captured the spirit of what the scheme is trying to achieve: a place that already feels rooted in its community before its first residents had moved in.

A new chapter on a familiar site

The scheme has been built on the site of the former Ty Darran care home, a place that meant something to the people of Risca for decades. Replacing it with 45 modern later-living apartments preserves that continuity of care for older residents in the area, while opening a new chapter shaped around independence and community rather than institutional living.

"This development is unlike anything we've delivered before as a Council and will become a blueprint for later living in the borough. It combines innovative energy-saving solutions with elegant design features and flexible spaces to meet residents' needs. We know Ty Darran was an important part of the community in Risca; we're committed to ensuring the community also remains at the heart of the new development."

Councillor Shayne Cook, Cabinet Member for Housing, Caerphilly County Borough Council

A model for what comes next

The UK's older population is growing, and the gap between the later-living housing we have and the later-living housing we need is widening. Schemes like Ty Darran show what good looks like as something already built, occupied and being lived in.

For Caerphilly Homes, Ty Darran sets a template for the kind of high-quality, low-carbon, community-rooted housing the council intends to deliver across the borough in the years ahead. For Willmott Dixon, it is the latest in a growing portfolio of housing schemes in South Wales, including our recently completed Passivhaus residential pilot in Caerphilly, that demonstrate what is possible when councils and contractors share a vision from the outset.