Care provider profile


different, compared to what others in the market offered at the time, common though many such features may be now. A vision recognised by our peers, with Boutique’s homes nominated for multiple industry design awards, including prestigious design awards such as Pinders and Knight Frank, as well as award nominations for the operational side of the business. Our design brief always states that we


want understated elegance, but absolutely not a ‘hotel feel’. For Boutique, every element needs to work towards that first ‘feeling’ visitors have when they enter the home. Someone should feel welcomed and embraced – both by the building and by its people. The Boutique ethos summarises this well: a warm and loving family, where everyone feels at home.


You might think that is a high standard to set – and you would be right. However, it is a deliberate choice. A lot of work went into clarifying and expressing our new ethos and values in 2023, although the foundations have been there since the beginning. The key challenge was finding a way to better express the family values which have been at the heart of the business from the moment it began, and still drive us today. Feeling at home is something everyone can relate to. Our ethos is deliberately inclusive of visitors and team members, not just residents. Being small and family run, with family values, is a unique strength of the Boutique brand. It means that decisions are always taken with residents’ best interests in mind, and there is a constant focus on getting the small details right – like greeting every visitor with a smile and a cup of tea at the front door. These are the things that people tell us they care about.


Personal touches


We prioritise personal touches. Residents are given every opportunity possible to personalise their spaces, and to maintain their independence and preferences in all aspects of their daily routine, as well as for special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries. An example of this quest for perfection is the fact that halfway through The Burlington’s construction journey, we changed interior designer. This was done in order to get the right ‘feel’. A drastic move (and an expensive one) but one which was proved right as soon as the home opened. Similarly, the choice of interior designer at Chartwell House was driven by a desire to further improve the latest home’s dementia


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We were careful to look for locations where a high quality care home would be an asset to the local community


design and wayfinding. Taking the time to listen to what others


say also shapes the Boutique brand. Each design is carefully scrutinised once the care home is open, and we actively seek feedback from team members about what works and what could be improved.


Some of the biggest changes so far have


been the en suite and assisted bathrooms – often an overlooked space, compared to the much more heavily-used bedrooms, lounges, and dining areas. However, we think about this differently. Although bathrooms might not be somewhere we spend a lot of time in, they are places where we are at our most vulnerable and emotional – especially for someone living with dementia, or someone new to receiving personal care. Small changes can create huge differences, as some of the choices we have made, demonstrate. From picking a warmer tile colour to create a softer ambience, to including storage lockers inside an en suite bathroom to minimise disruption during personal care – every decision was made with residents’ welfare in mind, and how design could make team members’ shifts easier. This iteration is by no means a simple process, or one that is ever truly finished. All feedback is assessed on an ongoing basis to see if it can help update the design of future care homes – something that is happening a lot at the moment. We have two planning applications submitted in Reading and Maidenhead, with more to come. Each one represents hundreds of hours of discussion and negotiation to put the Boutique ‘stamp’ on a design – the key features which make our homes stand out from the crowd. Walk into a Boutique home and these touches are immediately visible – corridors and rooms flooded with light, lush outdoor spaces, a thriving community hub on each floor, and everywhere a feeling of calm, warmth, and something like ‘home’.


The future The days when Boutique was a small team working on a single project may be over, but the drive for quality remains. We


have announced a string of acquisitions over the past year, and we are busier than ever. Construction begins shortly on two new homes in Burgess Hill and Hythe, in addition to the planning applications we have submitted, and with more pending submission.


While designing and building our first


three care homes, the core of Boutique’s mission emerged organically. Essentially, it is an uncompromising passion for quality. In fact, it is so important that it forms one of our newly published values, which are displayed for all to see in each reception area. These values were officially launched late last year and provide a further example of our commitment to quality – instead of simply hanging on the wall, they have already been integrated into inter-home competitions, poems written by residents and team members, employee recognition awards, and more.


Our passion for quality, attention to detail, and sense of purpose driving improvements is what makes Boutique unique, and surely a major factor in the success we have enjoyed since its inception. We have big plans for the future, and we are very much looking forward to the next five years!


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Ameet Kotecha


Ameet founded Boutique Care Homes in 2019 and prides Boutique on developing best in class care homes. The Boutique vision is to provide compassionate care with true family values in later life, centred around the group’s ethos to be ‘a warm and loving family, where everyone feels at home’. Ameet is passionate about providing a high quality service and has established a team of industry leading specialists to build and operate new purpose- built care homes using his 20 years of experience in the sector.


www.thecarehomeenvironment.com April 2024


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