Care Home Builders Articles

Care home facilities are a crucial element in the UK care system. They offer care services to over four hundred thousand elderly people across the UK. Providing them with a better facility for peace of mind and faster recovery from stress is possible when they enter the open space. For example, gardens with wide walkways and open spaces under the sky work wonders for the overall well-being of elderly people. This blog will discuss the importance of outdoor spaces in care homes. By the end of the blog, you will know how different outdoor elements, such as open spaces for social interaction, therapeutic gardens, and others, help older people live healthy lives in care homes.

Why Outdoor Spaces Matter in Care Homes

Older people in care homes tend to be under stress and have poor physical health. An outdoor space in the care home facility helps to improve their moods by reducing anxiety levels and stress. In an outdoor space like gardens and other places, old people can breathe freely and improve their overall health. An open space also provides opportunities to interact with other people with a free mind. We all know that social interaction helps us relieve ourselves from stress and trauma. Being connected with other people in society makes us feel important. Such facilities in any care home can work excellently for any person-centred care approach. Now, let's look at some key elements of an outdoor space in a care home.

Key Elements of Effective Outdoor Space Design in Care Homes

Outdoor open spaces are excellent elements of a care home that help older people maintain their physical and mental health; for example, open gardens or places for socialisation are significant for their well-being.

Therapeutic Gardens

The main purpose of such a garden is to support individuals with mental and physical illnesses. A garden becomes more beautiful with wildflowers and plants. Residents can experience peace of mind while walking around or in the garden. It brings them closer to the environment, helping them heal faster. More interestingly, a therapeutic garden can be more beneficial if it is a required place. Residents of care homes can heal themselves internally and come out of any mental trauma.

Safe and Accessible Walkways

Building a warehouse and designing pathways inside the care home requires special attention. You need to ensure that the walkways are not slippery and are wider for easy access. Older people mostly do not have excellent mobility, so spacious walkways are essential for ease of movement. It would be better if the internal pathways were shaded and equipped with grab rails. Installing grab rails will allow residents to walk freely on the paths and move freely in the facility. If they can roam freely while walking in a safe environment, they will feel more confident and stress-free.

Social and Restful Zones

Older people can heal better if they are socially active. A care home must have Open spaces for social interaction and activities, such as picnic tables or a pavilion in the garden where group activities can be arranged. Besides, open places to interact with families should also be arranged to see improvements among the elderly residents. It will reduce their mental anxiety and improve social connection.

Landscaping with Purpose: Therapeutic Design Principles

The key to designing a therapeutic garden is to keep it simple and appealing to elderly people. For example, the facility's colour and texture should be engaging and appealing to the senses. Moreover, when you construct the garden, make sure that it has natural features. Fountains, bird feeders to attract birds, and sculptures can improve the garden's aesthetics and look. You should try to keep the garden design simple and easy for people with dementia.

Maintenance and Safety Considerations

While the therapeutic garden design is essential for providing a better environment for older people, its maintenance is challenging. A team of workers should be employed to maintain the facility regularly. Besides, you can install CCTV and overnight guards to protect the facility. Divide the works that need regular attention and periodic attention. Depending on the nature of the job, you can easily maintain the garden area.

Conclusion

To summarise, a beautiful natural garden in the care home facility helps improve residents' moods. The older people in the care homes will experience a soul-soothing environment close to nature. An environment free from artificial constraints will open their minds and help them interact with others. Such a therapeutic garden is perfect for arranging a storytelling session or soulful music performance. After all it's all about how you feel inside that keeps you young even at sixty.

How to Design a Modern and Comfortable Care Home

It might not be surprising to know that the care home sector in the UK is worth £15.9 billion a year. With the increasing number of people without young adults to care for them, the demand for advanced care homes is increasing. Advanced technology can support the growing demand of care homes in the UK. It can be used to design the building layout, focusing on optimal care and comfort for the residents. For example, using IoT and smart devices, a normal care home can become extraordinary. 3D modelling technology helps build dementia-friendly care home facilities. Ultimately, technology bridges the gap between aesthetic superiority and resident wellness. This blog will discuss what is needed to design a modern care home facility that integrates advanced technology.

Key Elements of a Modern Care Home Design

When designing an advanced and modern care home facility, you must consider aesthetics, contemporary architecture, and technology. Focus on keeping the building simple to achieve excellent aesthetics. Using warm, soothing colours and soft, natural lighting, you can design a care home facility suitable for all residents. If the building aesthetics are more natural and welcoming, old people will find blending in with the environment easier.

In terms of architecture, a care home facility with spacious corridors and simple, step-free entrances offers residents a suitable care home facility. Besides, making the design simple will help people with dementia. The facility's simple design allows them to remember the building layout easily and leads them to their chamber easily. Innovative technologies like automatic lighting, temperature control, and other technologies help improve the quality of life for residents.

Designing for Comfort and Well-Being

People heal better when they are close to nature. Similarly, integrating natural light into a care home's design can improve residents' mood. They will better respond to the treatment and experience an improved lifestyle. Besides, building a community hall or an outside space for patients to come together and communicate with each other will improve their moods.

Human beings are naturally social animals, finding purpose in genuine human connection. So, dedicating a space for a community hall will improve residents' moods and well-being. You should also focus on residents' movements across the care home facilities. So, you must be careful while installing furniture in the care home. Installing chairs, sofas or tables in the care home should not restrict their natural movement. For example, installing chairs in the corridor might not be a good decision. You should also focus on making the facility soundproof to reduce noise pollution. Soundproofing technology can be utilised in community halls and corridors to reduce noise pollution. 

Accessibility and Safety Considerations

As people with old age complications come to take refuge in the care home facilities, the building design should be for their benefit. For example, installing non-slip floor tiles and an additional grab rail along the staircase can be helpful.

People will take support with the grabrail while using the staircase. At the same time, making the entrance easily accessible for wheelchair users helps residents move around quickly in the care house. Specific colours can be used to paint the hallway, corridor, and doors of dementia patients' homes to help them remember and navigate easily. Modern technology and research improvements have helped to improve old people's lifestyles.

Integrating Smart Technology in Care Homes

Modern technology-assisted care homes are also improving the lifestyles of old people. For example, smart lighting technology can be customised to suit residents' moods. An automatic temperature control system can adjust the room temperature as required. Besides, voice assistant technology gives old people control over the chest room temperature, lighting, and other facilities as they require.

Sustainability and Eco-Friendly Features

While advanced technology improves the lifestyle of old people in care homes, a sustainable approach also becomes important. Make sure to use energy-efficient lighting and heating devices. At the same time, using solar panels and renewable energy sources can help design a comfortable care home for old people.

Final Thoughts

You can easily build a care home, but integrating modern technology requires creative thinking. You can utilise smart technologies, such as automated lighting and heating devices and noise-proof technology to make the care home free from noise pollution, etc. The design and aesthetics of the building also help develop a comfortable place for old people.

Did you know there are 16,566 care homes in the UK? Out of all these care homes, approximately 70% offer residential care facilities. With such a rise in the number of care homes in the UK, a focus on sustainable and eco-friendly facilities is surfacing. If you look around, not only care home facilities but also construction, business, and other sectors are now focusing on sustainability. The primary reason is a focus on reducing carbon emissions through business and other activities. However, the process is not free of challenges. You must have a detailed plan to complete an eco-friendly care home project. In the following sections, we will explore what it means to be an eco-friendly care home facility and the challenges you might face.

Why Sustainability Matters in Care Homes

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 13 aims to reduce the impact of climate change. It predicts that by 2035, the overall temperature of the world will exceed 1.5°C. This might happen due to careless consumption of energy. The growing need for care homes in the UK calls for adopting a sustainable approach. From construction design to interior decoration, a sustainable approach should be prevalent in all aspects of a care home facility. Besides, the UK is legally committed to becoming net zero by 2050, which sets the ground for care home facilities to achieve sustainability. Moreover, adopting a sustainable approach in building care homes helps reduce energy consumption. Advanced innovative technologies, such as solar panels or natural insulation techniques, improve the quality of life for residents. Let's see what the key elements of sustainability are in an eco-friendly care home facility.

Key Elements of an Eco-Friendly Care Home

An eco-friendly system aims to reduce total energy consumption from building design to utility facilities. The installation of renewable energy solutions, recycled building materials for constructing care home facilities, and many more are important to making it eco-friendly.

Energy-Efficient Design: To maintain the indoor temperature of a care facility, you must ensure that proper insulation is installed. You can also install triple-glazed windows to keep the heat inside your house, reducing the overall energy consumption. Another way of doing this is by creating a design that allows natural light into the facility.

Renewable Energy Solutions: Solar panels are becoming a go-to option for residential clients or customers to reduce the cost of electricity. You can implement the technology under the same roof as a care home facility. You not only save on the cost of energy consumption, but you can also sell the access energy to the utility provider. You will receive an energy credit and use it as and when required.

Sustainable Building Materials: How can you reduce your carbon footprint during the construction process? Use low-carbon concrete materials, recycled window frames, wood, and more. You can also use emitted carbon from the cement industry in your concrete, which makes the building structure strong and reduces carbon in the environment.

Smart Technology Integration: With the integration of modern technologies, you can save energy consumption in care home facilities. For example, elderly people might forget to turn off the light or may not access the control facility easily. Automated lighting, heating, or air filtration systems work wonders in such cases. Besides improving their quality of life and comfort, such innovative technology helps to reduce energy consumption in care home facilities. Now, you can install all of these facilities in a care home, but it all comes down to cost and durability.

Cost vs. Long-Term Savings

A sustainable approach to building a care home might benefit you in the long run, but it is costly to install in the first place. If you install innovative technology in the care home, it will attract a hefty investment. Besides, sustainable design and planning also invite sizeable initial investment. However, you can be sure of its long-term benefits. Challenges and How to Overcome Them Yes, it's true that installing sustainable technology and implementing innovative care home design is costly at the first stage. However, if you consider the long-term benefits for the residents, then the sustainable approach weighs more in comparison. Besides, if you properly maintain the facility and train your staff accordingly, you can enjoy the benefits much longer.

Conclusion

First, an eco-friendly care home helps you reduce the overall carbon footprint. The health and well-being of the residents are also taken care of through a sustainable approach. You may integrate innovative technology and care home design to benefit from an eco-friendly facility. To help the UK achieve the net zero target by 2030, use a sustainable and eco-friendly care home facility. Contact care home builders to complete the construction of an innovative and eco-friendly care home facility.

The Importance of Dementia-Friendly Design in Care Homes Approximately 982,000 people with dementia are living in the UK. Such a huge number of people need a loving and caring facility. Family and friends of people with dementia look for a care home facility for the betterment of the patient. A simpler home design makes it better for dementia patients to remember the facility better. In the following blog, you will learn how a care home facility can be designed to be dementia-friendly.

What is Dementia-Friendly Design?

The main principle is to make a simple interior design. Do not include busy patterns and complex design. For them to navigate from one room to another. In a nutshell, a dementia-friendly care home facility must have simple interior design. Let’s take you through some of the important elements of dementia-friendly care home design.

Key Elements of Dementia-Friendly Design

Dementia patients have difficulty navigating, so you can use well-lit internal signs. Alternatively, a contrasting interior may help them go from here to there.

Clear Wayfinding and Signage

As stated above, a contrasting colour pattern helps them perceive objects. If you install internal signs, it may help them go to the washroom and come back to the bed. Contrasting colours on walls and doors help them find the entrance easily. You can place some identifying objects before each room entrance to help them identify their own room.

Safe and Comfortable Lighting

If your care-home facility is poorly lit or the corridors remain dark, dementia patients find it hard to navigate. Such an environment might leave them wandering around the facility. Instead, decorate the interior with energy-efficient lights. The best thing for you to do is to design the property to let in natural light. Under natural lights, patients can move around quickly.

Secure and Accessible Outdoor Spaces

You can ask them to visit the garden under staff supervision or allow them to roam around in an enclosed facility. Now, they can get outside exposure and also free from the mental anxiety of living indoors Just make sure the garden paths are clear and easy to remember. Besides, non-slippery roads may also be good for them.

Calming Interior Colors and Textures

If you use dark colours for interior decoration, it might be too much for them to process. Large and wild designs are distressing for them. Instead, use a calming and light interior theme. It will soothe their mental stress and help them navigate the facility easily. Install some light and safe furniture for their ease of use.

Private and Social Spaces

Caregivers or family members of dementia patients don’t let them go outside and socialise with others. Too much protection suffocates them and also increases mental agitation. Care home facilities have a good opportunity to solve the problem. They can meet with each other in a common room. It will reduce stress in their minds.

Noise Management

Continuous or sudden loud noises are disturbing for dementia patients. They disturb mental stability and agitation, which is not safe for patients at all. Use sound-absorbing cushions to reduce outside noises. Besides, be careful when working with heavy metals that produce noise. Lower noise from TV or alarm to maintain a peaceful environment.

Technologies Supporting Dementia Care

Modern technologies can help provide quality care for people with dementia. Let’s look at these technologies at a glance.

Smart Monitoring

Old dementia patients may be cared for quickly with fall detection sensors. These sensors detect and send alerts if the patient falls on the ground.

Interactive Technology

Digital devices like mobile phones and alarm clocks can help with the patient’s memory. Besides, modern interactive devices like Amazon Echo or Google Home are also amazing options to help them remember things.

Benefits of Implementing Dementia-Friendly Design

A friendly environment in the care facility is only possible by integrating patients, families and staff.

For Residents

Ensure that patients feel safe in the facility. They will respond better to treatment if they feel a sense of autonomy.

For Staff:

Easier caregiving with reduced incidents of confusion or wandering. They should be trained that patient comfort is the ultimate goal. They must focus on providing autonomy while safeguarding them.

For Families

Families must support the patients through frequent visits and quality private time. In such a caring environment, they will also feel peace of mind.

Best Practices for Creating Dementia-Friendly Care Homes

Consult a dementia care specialist to make a safe and secure environment in the care facility. Include families to know any personal preferences of the residents. It might make them feel at home. Finally, change or improve the environment as per residents’ feedback

Conclusion

A dementia-friendly environment is a place where patients feel safe and secure. Using bold patterns on walls and doors might confuse them. Instead, use a more straightforward design and light colours, reflecting a soothing environment. Are you planning to create a new care home facility for the old or people with dementia? Contact us today! We are the best care home builders in the town.

What to Expect During the Care Home Building Process – A Step-by-Step Guide The UK's demand for care home facilities is rising. Constructing a care home facility might be challenging for inexperienced contractors. The Construction Design & Management (CDM) Regulations mandate employing an experienced contractor in construction projects. The care home construction involves constructing a building that will suit the needs of patients. It is different from irregular residential or industrial homes. You may need to build big halls to house paints for patients. The following blog will take you through constructing a care home in the UK with a special focus on patient safety and security.

Step 1: Initial Planning & Feasibility Study

The primary purpose of building a care home is to provide specialised care facilities to children or older adults. People in their old age often develop dementia and other critical diseases that require special attention. However, the first step in building a care home is to analyse the local demand for care homes.

You must determine the construction cost and how much the facility will add value to residents. You should also determine the total number of residences your care home will accommodate and the specific type of care you would provide. It will help you clear the pain and objectives of the care home facility.

Finally, you should choose the right spot for constructing the care home facility. Having easy accessibility through the road can be a safe choice on location.

Step 2: Securing Permits & Regulatory Compliance

The next phase involves looking for any regulations related to care home construction. This will help you design the care home construction facility appropriately. The Care Quality Commission in the UK inspects care home facilities to ensure the residents’ safety.

So, building a safe care home for residents becomes a natural criterion. You should ensure the property has a proper fire management system, an emergency exit system, and others. Before you start the construction process, you should also consider following environmental regulations. In the UK, permission from the local government authority is necessary to construct a care home.

Step 3: Designing the Care Home

The construction process and layout design for a care facility are crucial. You need to plan for a simple building layout that is easy to navigate. You must incorporate emergency exit facilities and a non-slippery floor and install a grab rail along the staircase.

The building must contain wide doorways so residents can move in and out quickly. Wide doors will also help move stretchers in and out comfortably. Medical equipment can also be transferred from one room to another if required. When it comes to interior design and choosing a painting’s colour, select a light theme. This will induce a calm and soothing effect among the residents.

Employ a contractor who works closely with healthcare professionals to ensure compliance and ultimate safety for the care recipients. This will help design the care home facility in their best interest.

Step 4: Construction Phase & Challenges

At this stage, you should prepare for the building’s construction. This involves preparing the site, excavating, piling, and laying the foundation, depending on the superstructure load. Make sure to choose a care home builder who is an expert in completing the project within the given timeline. He should also comply with the necessary regulations to make the facility safe for all the residents. During the construction process, your contractor must install an emergency alarm system.

Step 5: Interior Fit-Out & Final Touches

Once the construction process is over, you should focus on the facility’s interior decoration. Install advanced beds for the ultimate safety and care of residents. Ensure all the safety features, such as the alarm system, fire extinguisher, intercom, and cameras, are working well. This will enhance the safety of your residence and make the care home safe for everyone.

Step 6: Licensing & Opening the Care Home

When the construction process and final inspection are over, seek permission from the local government and ask for applications from care receivers. Present your care home’s specialities and safety features to the government authority and potential residents. This will help them understand why your care facility stands out from others. During this phase, except for constructive feedback from government inspectors and residents. It will help you improve the facility with additional changes or facility installation.

Conclusion

The first step in building a quality care home facility is to choose a credible and experienced contractor. Then, develop a building layout. Ensure that the design is simple and easy to navigate. If the building is too complicated, people with dementia might find it difficult to roam around.

Install safety features like an emergency alarm system and security cameras. Also, ask your contractor to install a non-slippery floor and grab rails along the staircase. Finally, comply with the government revolution to be a safe care home facility for residents. If you want to build a care home facility, contact Care Home Builders today! We ensure ultimate safety and regulatory compliance.