An update on the progress towards the £40 million Jewish Care campus in Golders Green was given by the charity's chief executive, Simon Morris, at an event promoting legacies.

The campus - offering its first services from mid-July - will incorporate a 54-bed care home, 45 independent living apartments and a community centre, as well as a base for social work and administrative staff. The care home and apartments will give priority to Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution.

Mr Morris said the campus "will take some months to be completely full, as we will take a careful and considered approach to the integration of each part. All in all, 160,000 square feet will be dedicated to caring for the community, welcoming people from far and wide to find the care and support they need, all with a distinctly Jewish flavour."

He also told the audience of lawyers, accountants and professional advisers that three-quarters of the residents in Jewish Care homes were funded by their local authority at a rate substantially less than the cost of the care provision. This left an average annual shortfall of £14,000 per resident, which had to be found. Other services were totally reliant on voluntary income.

Legacies accounted for one-third of voluntary income and the Golders Green project, the Maurice and Vivienne Wohl Campus, "has become a reality partly due to the philanthropic vision and substantial gift from an estate".