“IT has been a journey of slightly over a decade to get to the final result of Maison des Amis,” said Les Amis managing director Shaun Findlay.
The charity, which has been supporting and empowering Islanders with learning disabilities since 1975, saw its new five-bedroom specialist care facility officially opened by the Lieutenant-Governor, Vice-Admiral Sir Jerry Kyd, last month.
The “significant milestone” marked the latest chapter in Les Amis’ expansion of its capabilities over the years.
Mr Findlay noted that provisions brought forward by the charity prior to Maison des Amis included the development of Mourant Lodge, an adult respite centre that opened in 2014.
Les Amis later sought to progress efforts towards a conversion of the former Hampshire Hotel to build multiple services there, but the scheme ultimately gave way to a different plan.
“The government felt that that facility would be too big, so that led us to Leslie Norman Court at the Limes,” Mr Findlay explained.
“We just basically deconstructed the larger model and made it into smaller models.”
The block of apartments, which enables adults with learning disabilities to live independently whilst having community and support at their door-step, was unveiled in 2024.
It was then that Les Amis revealed it was embarking on a fundraising campaign in order to bring Maison des Amis to fruition.
The charity, which had already raised £1 million to buy the property on Rue de Bechet, went on to raise a further £2.5 million to ensure the development was completed.
Construction work on the project began in June last year.
Following its opening in October, it will provide higher nursing care for Islanders who have additional needs due to age or dementia, making it possible for those the charity looks after to remain within the Les Amis family while receiving the specialist medical and nursing support they require.
But new facilities and services are not the only ways Mr Findlay, who has been at Les Amis for around two decades, has seen the charity improve.
“We were communicating with fax machines when I started working there”, he said.
Alongside the subsequent digital transformation, Mr Findlay also noted a “massive investment” in workforce.
He continued: “If we can’t get that right for human beings that we employ, how can we expect to do it for the people we serve?
“Those sort of achievements have been more about the infrastructure of the organisation and making it robust for the world we live in today.”
The charity has gained awards and achievements along the way, as well as a growing recognition of its operations.
“Les Amis is a very important charity and it works for probably the most vulnerable group in society,” Mr Findlay said.
“When I started working there, it wasn’t really getting any recognition. It wasn’t really promoting itself. And now everybody understands what Les Amis is.
“They understand what our goals are and what our mission is.
“That is probably the biggest achievement that I can think of, is people now recognise what the charity stands for and they understand the value it brings.”
Les Amis today supports around 100 adult Islanders at any one time via its residential, domiciliary and respite services.
Asked if there were plans for how Les Amis might continue to expand, Mr Findlay said “we don’t believe in standing still”.
“We are already relooking at what we deliver now and what the future may require of us,” he continued.
“We do know that more sheltered accommodation is the appetite for society now. Families are more understanding of asking for support and rightly so, so there is work there to be done with the children, the young people that are coming through the system as well.
“So we’re already thinking about what we need to do in the next five, ten, 15 years, because we haven’t got time to stand still.
“It would be very complacent of us to think, well we’ve done well, we’ve opened up two or three really good provisions. That should be enough. Well, it’s never enough and we have to continue to remind ourselves that society moves on, so we need to as well.”
