Interior designs


families to remain connected to the life of the home even after bereavement. By embedding such spaces as standard rather than exceptional, care homes can more honestly reflect the realities of contemporary care and support the people who live and work within them with greater integrity. Ongoing staff involvement through co-


design and post-occupancy evaluation can ensure environments remain responsive as care models evolve. Technology will also play a complementary role, including circadian lighting, acoustic refuges, and digital wellbeing resources, provided these sit within a fundamentally humane, People First framework.


Care homes as the new hospices As care homes increasingly deliver the majority of end of life care, their environments must respond not only to clinical needs, but to the emotional, psychological, and relational realities of dying. This shift challenges long-held assumptions about what care homes are designed to do and it places new responsibility on the built environment to support residents, families, and staff through some of life’s most difficult moments. Designing care homes that function


effectively as hospices requires environments that acknowledge grief, loss, and emotional processing as everyday experiences rather than exceptional events. Spaces for quiet reflection, remembrance, and withdrawal allow residents and families to process change and loss with dignity, while also supporting staff who may be supporting multiple people through end of life journeys at the same time. The impact of these environments extends


well beyond individual moments of care. When buildings reduce distress and support emotional regulation, staff are freed from constant crisis management and can focus on relational, person-centred care. Over time, this supports stronger team cohesion, reduced emotional exhaustion, and greater confidence in care delivery. Families, too, experience the ripple effects


of wellbeing-led design. Environments that feel calm, coherent, and humane foster trust and reassurance, shaping how families experience grief and how they remember the care their loved ones received. In this way, architecture plays a quiet but powerful role in legacy, memory, and meaning. From an organisational perspective, these


ripple effects translate into measurable outcomes. Environments that reduce stress


Designing for wellbeing


requires a deep understanding of lived experience


and support emotional regulation contribute to improved staff retention, reduced sickness absence, and greater continuity of care. They also shape organisational culture, reinforcing values around compassion, respect, and professionalism rather than burnout management. For care providers, this has implications


for reputation, recruitment, and regulatory confidence, particularly as expectations around staff wellbeing become more explicit within inspection and commissioning frameworks. In this context, wellbeing-led design should be understood as a strategic investment in workforce stability and care quality, rather than an aspirational feature. This approach should be understood not as a charitable gesture, but as a strategic response that supports workforce stability, operational resilience, and the long-term sustainability of compassionate care.


A blueprint for a new kind of care home As care homes increasingly take on the role of hospices, as Nightingale Hammerson’s research confirms, we must design for the reality that staff will carry deep emotional and relational burdens as part of their daily work. As such, we must raise the bar, designing and developing care environments that truly support the emotional reality of care work. Wetherby Care & Retirement Village


does this by elevating staff wellbeing to the forefront of the design process and demonstrates what is possible when architecture takes this responsibility seriously. The team behind Wetherby recognise that


care staff are the emotional infrastructure of care homes. Their wellbeing shapes resident wellbeing, and compassionate environments create the conditions for compassionate care. By embedding spaces for decompression, reflection, and restoration into the fabric of the building, Wetherby enables staff to return to their roles with presence and resilience rather than exhaustion. This approach recognises the importance


of considerately designing a care home for the people who live within it and the people who make living there dignified. As Sarah Paskett, clinical support


22 www.thecarehomeenvironment.com July 2026


manager at Springfield Healthcare Group, so beautifully describes: “We are immensely proud of the end-of-life care that our staff deliver. Valuing them with a physical space to decompress and share their feelings with their colleagues brings action and reality to our words. We have responded to staff surveys which have shown how much a safe, comfortable space means to them. To have the opportunity to design this space into our latest development is very exciting.” Wetherby Care & Retirement Village


stands as a testament to what can be achieved when a care provider is forward- thinking, innovative and genuinely caring and when architecture is used to truly put people first.n


Julie Smyth


Julie Smyth is an architect and founder of Wellbeing Designs, a RIBA Chartered Practice specialising in healthcare and social care environments. Her work is grounded in human-centred and biophilic design, with a particular focus on creating supportive, dignified spaces for people living with dementia, autism, and other complex needs. Julie’s experience includes award-winning projects such as The Chocolate Works Care Village in York, and she is currently acting as lead designer on a major care and retirement village project. Founded in October 2024, Wellbeing Designs was established with a mission to deliver ethical, sustainable and socially meaningful places where people feel supported, connected and at home.


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  |  Page 48