Client:
Borough Care Ltd, Offerton
Duration:
April 2019 - February 2020 (42 weeks)
Contract:
JCT SBC 2016 without quants; lead consultant for MMD team
Value & scheme:
£2.2M. 20-bed extension plus new entrance & partial re-modelling
Design award winner, ‘Best Regeneration Project’, Pinder’s Health Care Design Awards 2022
Owned and operated by Borough Care, Bruce Lodge is a brickwork and pitched tiled roof constructed 47 Bed residential dementia care home, providing En-Suite bedrooms and support accommodation. This Greenbelt site is located on a generous 0.68 hectares, allowing with intelligent intervention and partial internal re-arrangement, 20 additional En-suite bedrooms and a separate single storey new entrance extension.
The new bedrooms are arranged around an open plan ‘Household’ model of communal living facilities, embracing the most recent research and key dementia design principles by the Dementia Services Development Centre and Stirling University’s published Dementia Design guidance. Fundamental to this care model is the sense of openness and navigation around the spaces. The design incorporates open plan living by removing traditional corridors that provide access to bedrooms. This is un-orthodox in terms of fire safety compliance, but highly beneficial in a social and behavioural context. By incorporating a water mist fire suppression system, a robust fire management strategy and the supporting consultant appointment of Exova Warrington Fire, an open plan layout can be achieved.
The provision of a new external all weather play deck links the main entrance to a newly formed external bay window access with new covered linking canopy, additionally providing access to the proposed extension and bi-folding doors. From the edge of the proposed deck the ground is bunded, sloping to meet the existing ground level and finished with deep pile artificial grass. This provides an interesting and safe transition between the deck and the wild meadow and woodland activity spaces without enclosing the deck with balustrading. The deck itself is south facing to maximise the natural daylight and passive solar heat through the extensive glazing on this elevation. Actuated opening roof-windows with awnings and sliding doors ensure the internal comfort levels are maintained and overheating is avoided.
The architecture has a rational design language of its time. It reflects the existing building’s principle features and residential vernacular through quality detailing and materials, whilst not attempting a pastiche or replica. The proposed modern, contemporary, elevation materials are deliberately contrasting, using aluminium framed windows and doorsets, along with natural timber Cedar cladding, to provide a modern, sympathetic intervention, but allowing the history of the building to be evident.
