coombes : everitt Your Sector Accessible Private Dwelling
Accessible Private Dwelling
Sector
Specialist Care – independent living in the community
Client
Private Homeowner
Location
Bristol
We have worked with a number of private individuals to help create spaces for family members who need the freedom of independent living but who also require easy access to specialist support and care.
For this project, our client was a former student at National Star College who wished to return to his home town at the end of his academic studies. We were delighted to work with him and his family to create a high quality 2 bed accessible home, tailored to his unique needs, and which included additional self-contained accommodation to support 24hr care.
Our experience of developing schemes for clients with specialist needs has taught us that there are significant quality of life enhancement benefits in developing dwellings for more than one individual. A multi-residential dwelling also provides some efficiencies of scale in terms of building costs and care staff and can also offer an income stream to help improve the financial viability of independent living.
The Brief:
• To create a new 2 bed fully accessible home on the ground adjacent to the parental home with separate vehicular access
• To facilitate the provision for 24hr care
• To create a dwelling that had plenty of natural light, took advantage of the attractive outlook from the site and provided a homely environment
• To utilise sustainable construction methods to ensure an energy efficient building
Key Challenges:
• Balancing the functional and aspirational needs of our client to create fully accessible accommodation that met all their unique complex specialist needs whilst retaining a comforting and welcoming domestic environment
• To help mitigate the potentially significant on-going running costs
• To ensure that the scheme respected the residential setting
Our Responsibilities:
Specialist Advice
Our Solution:
We welcome the opportunity to extend our specialist care expertise to our private clients, working with them and their specialist care teams to understand their unique needs and translating these into creative bespoke solutions.
“Whether it’s a new build from scratch or the refreshing and reworking of an existing building, we take into account everything from wheelchair turning circles and worktop heights through to bath positioning and discreet storage for medical equipment and medicines – always with an emphasis on, delivering these through beautiful design and the seamless inclusion of adaptive technologies” John Everitt
One of our key aspirations for this project was to create a high quality accessible dwelling that enhanced the quality of life for our active and engaging client. Our solution affords him the maximum amount of independence possible and creates a warm and inviting home for him to enjoy and to entertain his family and friends.
A single storey dwelling offered a practical solution and also helped mitigate the impact on surrounding homes. Our contemporary design utilised timber cladding and hung slate to add interest to the external aesthetic. Pitched roofs added variation and scale to the internal space and enabled us to incorporate vaulted ceilings and roof lights to optimise ventilation, spaciousness and natural light.
Positioning on site and internal layout were designed to make the most of the available space, natural ventilation and natural light as well as providing a good relationship between the internal accommodation and the private external space. Level access to both front and rear of the dwelling facilitates maximum independence and a large terrace provides year round access to external space.
Natural light is optimised through a large glazed screen door at the entrance of the property and double glazed doors to the rear garden. Two large roof lights bring further light into the centre of the property. In addition, a sliding pocket door to the living room ensures that light and views can extend through the property from the entrance to the rear garden and the views beyond.
Internally, comfortable domestic finishes throughout help to create a homely environment along with clever storage and discreet charging facilities for specialist equipment and concealed overhead hoists.
In order to create the right home for our client, circulation planning was central to the design to accommodate a motorised wheelchair. Box bay windows offered a creative solution to informal seating that didn’t compromise the circulation floor space. Sliding pocket doors facilitate easy transition between bedroom and ensuite.
A separate room for physio and other therapies allows him to keep the medical care separate from the domestic living spaces to ensure these remained first and foremost a home to enjoy.
Finally, a height adjustable island offered the flexibility for our sociable client to enjoy food preparation and dining with disabled and able-bodied friends alike.
We utilised Passivhaus principles to create a low energy demand dwelling. The result is a super insulated building with low levels of air permeability. Renewable energy solutions also help mitigate on-going running costs including mechanical ventilation incorporating heat recovery, an air source heat pump and PV panels