CEO interview
dining area and the entrance atrium, but also the dementia space and the residential units – they’ve all been subject to a full refurbishment as well. “As you walk through the dining space,
[it is] more akin to what you’d expect to see walking into a high-end restaurant environment to have a formal dining experience. But when we talk about that dining experience and how important that is, we’re thinking beyond just creating these singular dining experiences and instead creating a multitude of offers. We have things like an ‘always available’ menu that can be enjoyed much more informally in the bistro, and then you can come and sit down and have a far more formal dining experience in the evening in the main dining
area. We also have the private dining space where you can enjoy private moments with your family, such as birthday celebrations. So it’s about being able to offer choice within the service.”
TCHE: Carrying out refurbishment of areas such as the dining space must have been quite the challenge with residents in situ? RM: “It did mean that some areas had to be condensed for a while. We were able to work proactively with the contractors to ensure that [the refurbishment] was smooth and didn’t feel disruptive to residents. I think residents and family members have actually been really supportive of this process ... We’re incredibly well staffed, and where we’ve needed to, we’ve dropped in a couple
of extra people to just help make things feel less disruptive. So having the right number of people here has been really important as well.”
TCHE: Presumably, the refurbishment has meant an opportunity to retrofit certain services and standards into older Signature homes? RM: “One thing that’s common across all of our homes is that we’ve made an investment into wellness studios. This is something that we’ve retrofitted into our existing homes. Highgate was the first home to have a wellness studio and we’re rolling it out as part of the refurbishment programme at all our other homes. The three new care homes will have a wellness studio as standard in the heart of each home. “Our objective is to help people to live
well for longer – to be able to enjoy the later years of their life through the environments that we create. Our target market is broad, so it means that people can come to us for lifestyle reasons. If they become isolated in their own community and they want to join a community environment that’s engaging and gives them purpose, they can join in activities, enjoy fine dining experiences, but also shut the door on it all when they choose to. Equally, we provide a service all the way up to dementia services and nursing services. I would term it as a ‘stay in place’ model, where residents are able to stay with us for the rest of their life. So part of that – and part of our future-proofing – that is we’ve put in these wellness studios because people are becoming more acutely aware of their own health and wellbeing, their heart health, their brain health, and are looking to be much more active. “So, what we need to be able to do is
provide equipment and facilities so that people can continue to maintain and
April 2026
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com 23
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47
