MAKEOVER OF THE MONTH
DESIGNED FOR CARE
A package of specialist products from Altro has helped deliver a high-performance ‘home from home’ refurb at a leading dementia-care home in Middlesex.
The Woodlands Residential Care Home in Ickenham is a family- owned-and-run business providing dementia, respite and day care in a comfortable and secure environment. When the team wanted to expand and upgrade its facilities, they knew careful planning and design would be crucial, as would working with a range of products designed for the specific challenges dementia care environments can bring.
Vickie Nickolls, designer at Interior Therapy, worked closely with Woodlands to ensure all their needs were met. “My brief was to create a calming environment that felt home from home, somewhere that felt like you could be sitting in your own living- room, and specifically designed for residents with dementia,” she explains.
The refurbishment project involved extending the existing facilities to create more space, adding a dedicated beauty salon, and family reading room, as well as redecorating all the bedrooms, living areas and ensuites. The home is divided up into distinct areas to make it as relaxed an environment as possible, with areas that are communal where the residents are able to mix and develop friendships.
Vickie selected a package of products from Altro to use in the project, including Altro Wood Comfort acoustic slip resistant flooring in hallways and bedrooms, Altro Wood adhesive-free in the lounge and dining areas and Altro Pisces specialist safety flooring in ensuites, coupled with Altro Tegulis tile effect wall panels for a seamless finish.
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Completing such a project in a busy care home environment presents very specific challenges which needed to be considered from the start. Vickie explains: “We needed to make sure there was as little disruption as possible for all of the residents living in the existing care home. This was achieved by planning and executing the project in various stages so that no impact was made on the day-to-day life of the residents and no disruption to their care.”
Altro has been at the forefront of dementia-friendly design, working with the University of Stirling’s renowned Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC) over many years to develop total solutions for the care home sector.
˝The impact has been huge for both residents and staff – the space now feels exactly as
intended: comfortable, reassuring and truly homely.˝
“The range of products on offer from Altro really helped as it gave me lots of choice when starting the design process. The fact that some products were DSDC accredited was the deciding
www.tomorrowscontractfloors.co.uk
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