116 HEALTHCARE
JUST OVER A DECADE AGO, I was sitting in a crowded auditorium at a European Healthcare Design conference, listening to a Danish architect describing an exemplary project for ‘later life’ living, paid for by local government, that he had just completed in Copenhagen. You could almost hear – and definitely feel – the collective sigh of envy at the spacious, light- filled apartments with deep windows looking onto individual balconies and lush, landscaped shared gardens, which emanated from myself and the rest of the delegates. At the time the UK’s default options ranged from unlovely nursing homes, or blocks of small, sheltered apartments in cities or towns, or – at the more luxurious end – privately funded, gated communities located miles from anywhere and thus minimising intergenerational connection and support.
Fast forward to 2023, and a very similarly covetous atmosphere was generated among the London architecture media on a first visit to Appleby Blue, an almshouse-inspired scheme by Witherford Watson Mann (WWM), in a densely residential part of Southwark. Tis is not a council-funded scheme, though Southwark Council has gifted the land to the client, United St Saviour’s Charity (UStSC), and helped to broker additional funding through a Section 106 agreement with developer JTRE (which didn’t want to include affordable housing next to its development, 185 Bankside, behind Tate Modern; Southwark was happy for that investment to land here).
Established 500 years ago, UStSC has a
long history of housing communities in need in Southwark, including building the borough’s first almshouse in 1588. What’s more, its head of research and influence, Alison Benzimra, has found convincing evidence, as co-author of the ‘Almshouse Longevity Study’ (Bayes Business School, May 2023), that living in an almshouse can boost residents’ lifespans by as much as two and a half years.
Te almshouse is a particularly relevant design for these times, when loneliness – especially in ageing populations – is said to have a greater negative impact on our life expectancy than obesity, depleting both physical and mental health. Designed around a shared courtyard or garden, and thus creating a safe central circulation space with built-in visibility and sociability, the almshouse promotes a high degree of community interaction. But post pandemic, loneliness and isolation are two of the biggest problems facing society in general. For the ageing in particular, part of that isolation comes from a lack of engagement not just with peers but also with other age groups. Tis is something Appleby
CASE STUDY APPLEBY BLUE
Appleby Blue is an exciting step forward in affordable later living, offering 57 apartments around a central, planted courtyard, with the design and programming all oriented
to maximise engagement within the community but also extending out to the surrounding neighbourhood. Working to an enlightened brief from client United Saint Saviour’s Charity (UStSC), on land donated by Southwark Council, architects Witherford Watson Mann (WWM) have placed key social spaces along the ground floor, one whole length of which fronts onto a busy Southwark high street. There are workshop spaces and a community kitchen adjoining a double-height Garden Room (dining space and lounge space, with open kitchen) offering views and access directly through to the lush courtyard garden, designed by Grant Associates, which also designed the delightful, and productive, roof terrace filled with easily accessed planters.
Integral to the programming is a range of activities and events around intergenerational cooking and
PHILIPP EBELING
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