We have won planning consent for a retirement care village in Tetbury for Pegasus Life.
Our scheme comprises 114 Assisted Living units on a brownfield site alongside a range of communal and care facilities. We shared an objective with our client that the scheme should raise the quality of retirement housing by providing a flexible and attractive environment where people can retain a degree of independence while benefitting from efficient care and support services. We have sought to exceed the recommendations set out in the 2009 HAPPI report (Housing our Ageing Population: Panel for Innovation) which advocated generous space standards, a variety of external private and communal spaces, and a higher quality of space to engender stronger community interaction.
The layout of the development is informed by historic Cotswold farmsteads and almshouses, with a series of open courtyards around which the residential buildings are clustered on a comfortable domestic scale. This courtyard model, we have successfully applied elsewhere including at the 2014 RIBA Award-winning Hargood Close in Colchester, seeks to provide elderly residents with a sense of identity and security, and encourage the establishment of small community groupings within the wider framework of the care village. In more practical terms, this arrangement avoids long corridors, enables dual aspect living spaces, and encourages passive surveillance by residents and staff.
The development contains 1- and 2-bed apartments arranged within each two-storey cluster, with larger maisonettes positioned above ground floor apartments. The self-contained units contain living space, private kitchens and bathrooms, alongside generous private outdoor space and external storage. Sliding walls within each apartment offer greater spatial flexibility. The maisonettes make full use of the roof void to bring in additional daylighting and enhance the sense of space within these units. Outside, the shared courtyards provide further external space.
A key element is the ambulatory - a cloistered walkway to both levels. This is conceived not merely as a way of circulating through each cluster but provides generous space with seating areas for residents to meet, relax and interact. Architecturally this stacked arcade breaks up the courtyard elevations and delivers an animated street frontage to the public realm.
A taller barn-like structure at the heart of the site - the ‘village hall’ - contains communal facilities including a large dining area and residents’ lounge, care and therapy provision, IT facilities and an exercise room. Outside there are landscaped gardens and allotments. Staff areas are also arranged at the core of the site.
Our contemporary interpretation of the farmstead or almshouse is enhanced with careful detailing that sustains references to local vernacular buildings. Dormers, projecting bays and balcony hood/porches create a coherent yet varied architectural language to the courtyard clusters, while each cluster is different with varying elevational compositions. Chimneys for wood burning stoves echo the visually pronounced chimneys that are a feature of the ‘Cotswold style’. Cotswold stone is used for ground level facades with a limewash-coloured render above, and Cotswold stone boundary walls continue the use of traditional materials and bring the different elements of the scheme together.
Construction is expected to begin on site in March 2015, with completion in Spring 2017.