Proposals for repurpose of St Rognvald House move forward

Proposals to redevelop St Rognvald House care home in Kirkwall in order to provide accommodation for agency workers in Orkney has taken a step forward today.

Members at today’s meeting of the Council’s Policy and Resources Committee considered a report recommending that the proposed project be progressed to Stage 2 of the Council’s Capital Project Appraisal process.

Residents from St Rognvald House – built in X – are due to move to a brand-new facility in Kirkwall, Kirkjuvagr House, in July this year.

The proposals will see accommodation created for up to 39 visiting workers in the vacated care home building. The accommodation would be individual bedsit style rooms, with shared access to bathrooms, cooking facilities, dining areas and laundry facilities.

The Council’s Essential Workers Housing Strategy, approved in April 2024, identified the need for a range of accommodation options for keyworkers and other essential workers including those living temporarily in Orkney for work purposes, but who are permanent residents elsewhere. This included the option to repurpose existing redundant property.

Due to significant recruitment challenges that are consistent with those faced by all Scottish local authorities, the service currently requires significant numbers of agency staff to maintain required service delivery standards.

The increased reliance on agency workers, particularly within Orkney Health and Care (OHAC), has created substantial accommodation cost pressures while simultaneously adding to reducing housing availability for permanent residents as agency staff use mainstream private rented or holiday accommodation.

It is expected that the project could reduce costs for Orkney Health and Care by up to £250k a year.

In the longer term, the land that the building currently sits on has been allocated for future affordable housing development, as part of the Council’s ambitious Strategic Housing Investment Plan.

Council Leader, Heather Woodbridge, chairs the Policy and Resources Committee.  She said: “Repurposing the vacant St Rognvald House property could present an innovative approach to dealing with the pressing issue of where and how we provide living space for those people who are coming to Orkney to provide additional capacity to our health and care workforce.

“Members at today’s meeting were very pleased to see this report come forward.  It is early days though and further detail will now be worked on by the project team – including an extended business case, final designs, planning requirements and a funding package – before it comes back in front of Elected Members at Stage 2 for their final approval.”

The report was held in private, as it related to future work to be contracted by the Council.