Almshouses for healthy later living

The aging population of the UK is changing. People are more independent to a later age, only going into care at a very late stage of deterioration. As a result, accommodation for older people is also changing. Older people want to downsize from the family home to live in a good quality home that they can call their own, whilst also living close to others in a similar position.  At the heart of this project was the desire to build an active and caring community for healthy later living, that would also be affordable.

How can you inspire a community while unlocking a challenging site?

We took an existing care home facility that had become outdated and in need of renovation. We explored options for a scheme that would appeal to younger, more able people who could contribute to a community as well as benefit from it. Loneliness is associated with increased health risks – heart disease, stroke, diabetes and more, especially in older people. By engineering a community for later life, this care facility would also keep its residents – both those living independently and those in assisted living – healthy for longer!

We created two options for the site.

Retrofit

The first option was to retain and retrofit the two large existing 1930s houses that were the origins of the care facility. We reappraised the whole site, removing the low quality additions that had been added over the years, replacing them with a communal dining and kitchen facility.  A common house, to be shared by all residents, and a central courtyard garden would be the social heart of the project.  FInally, we added 14 new almshouse homes which would front onto the street giving the development a residential rather than clinical outlook.

New build

A new build option would allow greater flexibility in layout, more homes and for the accommodation to be arranged around a larger public courtyard garden. Multiple common rooms were arranged around the facility in order to further promote socialising and community.

The essence of both schemes was to create a generous communal garden around which daily life would revolve. Residents would have a connection to the outside whether within protected corridors, on balconies, or within the garden itself, promoting healthy later living.

Contemporary almshouses

As a charity, our client was keen to return to the almshouse model, providing independent and affordable accommodation for local people to downsize to. The purpose built new homes were to be made available at below market rent, with residents living within the overview of an established management team.