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Always featuring numerous articles on a wide range of eco-building projects from all around the UK, most of which are written by the very people that designed or built them. It is the ideal read for architects, builders, developers, self builders and anyone interested in eco-building, including interested homeowners/clients.
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Sustainable dementia care |
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3 Oct 2012, 8:11 PM
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A green care home located in the grounds of a historic Manor House at West Byfleet, Surrey, built and run by the not-for-profit group Anchor combines a high quality built environment with imaginative care for the elderly and those living with dementia.
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The development comprises three energy efficient individual cluster buildings each organic in form, arranged over three floors set beneath sweeping green roofs and behind timber brise soleil, providing specialist accommodation for up to 117 customers.
The site offers a range of facilities including arts and crafts rooms and spaces for social gatherings.
The design for the care home, set within the mature grounds of the locally listed Manor House, is conceived as a series of leaves within the landscape, thereby minimising the visual impact of the buildings within their surroundings.
In addition to its sympathetic design within a rural setting, another key aspect of West Hall is its use of best practive thermal envelope and energy efficient, low carbon technology including ground source heat pumps and roof mounted solar panels.
Design features which aim to help those living with dementia to do so with the least possible distress include minimising the use of long corridors and ‘dead-end’ areas and an interior design approach which aims to be ‘dementia transparent’, i.e. finishes, fixtures and fittings assist those living with dementia whilst also appealing to users/visitors not living with dementia.
These features include memory boxes recessed into walls to help individuals identify their bedrooms, and coloured textured panels providing a tactile indicator, also to help identify bedrooms.
Wall coverings and fabric patterns have been carefully selected and are approved by dementia consultants to ensure they do not contain complex or disconcerting life-like patterns. Finishes which have been specified to avoid any shine or glare that could cause confusion.
Non-contrasting short-pile carpets and adjacent floor finishes have been installed as contrasting floor finishes can create barriers to those living with dementia.
A landscape design which provides interconnected routes around the site aiding site-wide orientation and facilitating customers’ returning to their own building.
The facility has been designed to use considerably less energy than a 'traditional' care facility of equivalent size, and this has been achieved through the use of highly insulated wall panels, doors and windows, together with heat pump technology and solar thermal hot water.
Working alongside these elements the green roofs reduce rainwater run-off, provide insulation, encourage biodiversity and create a highly sustainable design solution.
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