Lovell-built Severn View Park dementia care home wins RICS UK residential award

Lovell, Monmouthshire County Council and Pentan Architects have won the Residential Development Award at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) UK Awards 2026 for Severn View Park Care Home in Monmouthshire.

The national winners were announced at the Grand Final, which RICS said took place on 22 October 2026 at Park Plaza London Westminster Bridge. Lovell announced the win on 13 November.

Lovell said the home, which it places in Portskewett, sits within the Elderwood Parc development and was built by Lovell and designed by Pentan Architects for the council. RICS described the winner as a dementia-focused residential care facility delivered in partnership by the three organisations.

Anthony Vagges, regional managing director at Lovell, said: "We are incredibly proud to have received this national award from such an important industry body." He said the project had helped create "a place that sets a new benchmark for dementia-friendly care homes".

The building

The single-storey home provides both long-term dementia care and short-term rehabilitation, according to Lovell. Pentan Architects said it has 24 long-term residential bedrooms and eight short-term rooms for rehabilitation and respite care; the council described it in October 2023 as a 32-bedroom home.

Room type	Bedrooms
Long-term residential	24
Short-term rehabilitation and respite	8

Residents live in four households of eight, the council and Pentan said. Each household has its own private garden, and residents share a central village hall, a courtyard garden and community allotments, according to Lovell, which said the outdoor spaces were created with ecologists and landscape specialists.

Pentan said communal provision is 13 sq m per resident, against a statutory requirement of 5.1 sq m, and that the village hall is available free of charge to local groups. The council said front doors open directly into the home rather than into a reception area.

Karen Lock, associate director at Pentan Architects, said the building fundamentally changes the way care is provided for people living with dementia, with daily life in each household built around the tasks, relationships and simple pleasures of any home.

Cllr Ian Chandler, cabinet member for social care, safeguarding and accessible health services on Monmouthshire County Council, said the home had allowed the council to look at a different way of providing care.

Clare Johnson MBE FRICS, regional market director for the Central UK region at RICS, said the judging panel had found the project exemplifies residential excellence, showing how thoughtful design, collaboration and community-focused delivery can create homes and places with a lasting positive impact.

Funding and delivery

The council said the home opened in March 2024, in line with the date it gave in October 2023, and described the scheme as a seven-year development. Pentan lists the project as completed in March 2024.

In its opening announcement the council said funding came from the council and the Gwent Regional Partnership Board via the Welsh Government's Integrated Care Fund and Housing with Care Fund. Its earlier October 2023 update named the Welsh Government via Gwent Regional Partnership and Aneurin Bevan University Health Board among the funders.

The home stands in the Crick Road housing development, Elderwood Parc, which the council said was developed in partnership with Melin Homes.

Jayne Bryant, Welsh Government cabinet secretary for local government, housing and planning, visited the home on 19 August 2024. The council reported she said facilities like this can significantly reduce the pressures on health and social care services.

Earlier awards

The RICS win follows a run of recognition for the scheme. The council announced in February 2025 that the home had won the RIBA MacEwen Award 2025, which celebrates architecture for the common good. Pentan also lists the project as 2026 RSAW Building of the Year and 2026 RSAW Client of the Year winner.

RICS announced its 2026 Wales regional winners on 21 July, saying they would go on to the Grand Final later in the year, with the Wales regional Project of the Year going to Y Storfa, Swansea Hub. At the Grand Final, RICS named Belfast Grand Central Station as the 2026 UK Project of the Year.