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‘Home’ is independence that feels natural, privacy that does not need defending, and access to community without obligation
A compact apartment building provides six self-contained homes for residents seeking maximum autonomy, each dual aspect with a private balcony or ground fl oor terrace. Alongside this, two shared townhouses offer fi ve ensuite bedrooms each, arranged around a generous kitchen and living spaces where shared life emerges naturally. Both layouts are calm and intuitive, reducing cognitive load and supporting confi dence in daily routines. Variety is not an add on here, but is fundamental to dignity.
Making care environments work in practice An environment that feels like home must also enable care to function smoothly. At Horley, architecture was developed in close collaboration with Surrey’s Adult Social Care team, occupational therapists, operators and specialists. Lived experience shaped the brief, particularly the small spatial frictions that can erode wellbeing over time such as glare across dining tables, echoing rooms, corridors that feel over exposed or confusing. As such the design responses were deliberately straightforward, ensuring circulation is clear and concise, daylight is generous but controlled, acoustic separation is planned in, not retrofi tted. It was important that staff routes keep support close without becoming visually dominant, ensuring help is always available while independence remains the foreground experience. Operational clarity was treated as a form of care in itself which means storage is appropriately sized and logically placed in order to reduce clutter and unnecessary movement. Sightlines allow supervision where required, without slipping into surveillance. Durable, low maintenance materials were selected to ensure the buildings retain their dignity over time because when environments reduce friction, staff wellbeing improves and the service operates with greater consistency and calm.
Predictability, choice & emotional safety For neurodiverse residents in particular, belonging is closely tied to predictability so environments that are visually noisy, behaviourally ambiguous or overly stimulating can undermine confi dence and independence, even when provision is well intentioned. At Horley, careful attention was given to emotional legibility, looking at how a space is read, understood and trusted over time. This included consistent material palettes, clear thresholds between private and shared areas, and layouts that avoid unnecessary decision making. Critically, choice is embedded at multiple scales so that residents can choose when to engage, where to retreat, and how visible they wish to be within the community. This might be as small as selecting a quieter route through the site or as signifi cant as choosing between an apartment or shared house setting. Architecture here does not prescribe behaviour but supports personal agency. Staff benefi t too, working in spaces where boundaries are clear and everyday interactions feel calm rather than reactive. Safety, in this context, is not about control but reassurance. Robust detailing, good sightlines and passive supervision enable
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support to be discreet and responsive. Over time, this consistency builds trust between residents, staff and place. When people feel safe without feeling managed, independence becomes sustainable, and belonging stops being an aspiration and becomes an everyday condition.
Sustainability as lived experience
Sustainability at Horley was approached as something people would feel rather than simply measure. The scheme follows a fabric fi rst, all electric strategy aligned with LETI climate emergency principles, supporting net zero readiness. Photovoltaic panels provide onsite renewable energy, while orientation and passive measures help maintain comfortable internal conditions without unnecessary complexity.
Landscape plays a central role in this lived sustainability. A gentle loop walk supports predictable movement for instance, pergolas provide shaded places to pause and allotment planters enable shared, purposeful activity. Over time, layered planting softens boundaries between communal, semi private and private spaces, allowing residents to choose how they engage with nature and with one another. For residents and staff alike, sustainability is experienced through stable temperatures, fresh air, access to green space and lower energy costs.
The value created at Horley is shared as residents benefi t from choice over privacy, sociability and routine, supported by spaces that are calm, legible and ordinary in the best sense. Staff work in an environment that supports the complexity of care rather than adding to it. Operators gain buildings that are robust, effi cient to run and aligned with long term care and climate objectives. Post occupancy evaluation and ongoing feedback will be essential, allowing the environment to evolve alongside the service. Small, informed adjustments can make a signifi cant difference when learning is part of the design process. So, does it feel like home? If that question continues to guide decision making, care strategy becomes place, and place becomes opportunity. The Horley scheme demonstrates that specialist housing can be safe, sustainable and operationally clear, while still feeling genuinely lived in, warm, and free.
Barbara Clarenz is head of residential London and the South East at AtkinsRéalis
ADF FEBRUARY 2026
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