Plans have been submitted for a 73-bed care home in the island’s capital on the site of the former headquarters of the Department of Home Affairs.

The application (19/00959/B) has been submitted by Homefield Care Limited, which won the right to purchase the site, valued at £1.25m from the government in a tender process.

The company has said in its application it wants to demolish the old building and build a three-storey care home. It would spend up to £5m on the site and create up to 60 jobs.

Homefield says it wants to provide predominantly nursing care. However, it could also cater for more specialised dementia and residential care which it says is required in the island.

It said that more care homes are required in the island in order to ’meet demand where currently it remains unmet’. And the company referred to existing care homes in the island have reached the point of being ’passed its sell by date’.

If given the green light by planners, the plan is for the care home to be ready to open by mid-to-late-2021.

As well as 73 rooms, the care home would include two offices for administration, a lift, lounge rooms, quiet lounges, dining rooms, kitchen, stores, assisted bathrooms and a hairdressers.

The L-shaped building would have 23 to 25 bedrooms on each floor. Landscaping works are planned for the exterior.

The existing building and plot of land was valued at £1.25m by Black Grace Cowley when it was put up for sale by the government.