PROJECT REPORT: RETIREMENT LIVING & CARE HOMES 23
CHARLIE RATCHFORD COURT CAMDEN, LONDON
Keeping in touch
An extra care scheme in Camden designed to offer extra connections to the community evolved to include younger residents, in efficiently-designed flats with the focus on wellness and sustainability. James Parker speaks to PRP Architects about the approach they took to the project
C
harlie Ratchford Court is a development of 38 ‘extra care’ apartments in Camden, north
London, in a six-storey block designed to not only provide high quality living spaces for older people, but also a series of facilities to be shared with the local community.
The project was initially envisioned by Camden Council to provide purpose-built accessible apartments with a strong sense of connection to their surroundings, to help them feel in touch with the outside world. Part of this would be bringing in the local community to allow residents to interact with people of all ages. It represents something of a rarity among extra care schemes, plus something of a ‘curveball’ for the architects, PRP, in that the extra-care accommodation itself would in the event be used to house younger residents. The council’s brief included an ‘intergenerational hub’ with community facilities on the ground floor which would encourage residents to socialise and interact, to combat isolation in older age. As well as helping to maintain the independence of residents, this forges a connection between the building and the wider community. The 38 flats (comprising 32 one beds and six two beds), are accompanied by similarly “accessible and adaptable” facilities, including indoor and outdoor communal spaces, a health & wellbeing suite, and a guest suite for families. The communal aspects support the architects’ goal of creating a project that avoids the stigmas of traditional accommodation for older people.
ADF AUGUST 2022 Site & procurement
The site was a prime vacant location, close to Chalk Farm station, a relatively well- heeled area of Camden, with a host of amenities nearby. As Clare Cameron tells ADF, the site is “embedded in a residential area,” giving a solid opportunity to connect to the community. It is a locally significant scheme, the site having been derelict for many years. Community facilities would be accommodated on the ground floor of the new building, with extra care housing above; the site of the former Charlie Ratchford Day Centre opposite being sold for private housing to fund the scheme. PRP first became involved around a decade ago, when the council, which owned the “very challenging, long and thin” site, were seeking a housing association to develop it in partnership, and PRP bid for the job. In the end, the council decided to develop the site by itself, and staged a design competition. As the winning practice, PRP were careful to involve the community and input their views as the design progressed. The project backs onto Haverstock School, prompting warnings about potential noise for residents, however the architects “actually saw it as a positive; hearing children is a welcome sound of local activity.” Traditional later living design best practice normally includes a large, enclosed garden. Here, due to the site’s narrowness, a slightly different approach was needed – with further constraints being the number of apartments required on the plot and it being cheek by jowl with other buildings. However, says Cameron, “what’s really
ELEVATIONS
The building has been designed to tie in with its Camden neighbours in both its proportions and materials, including two stories of reconstituted stone cladding
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