Design Brief
1. Brief background and aims of GCF
Our mission is ‘to provide a source of high quality services for disabled people, their families and carers, which will assist in maintaining independent living’.
Our vision is to provide a high quality, new build centre in North Cheshire by the name of Griffiths Court. The centre will provide residential and respite care and a range of complimentary services to disabled people and will play a part in enabling independence and independent living.
Despite being a relatively new organisation in our own right we benefit from the substantial and diverse skills and experience of our Trustee Board. This plethora of skills and experience has been gained whilst supporting, promoting and campaigning on issues relating to disabled people and their carers.
Our vision is to provide a much needed facility for disabled people in the North West region that will build a reputation for the quality of its service, facilities and an internal and external environment that will be the envy of similar centres in other areas of the country.
Our vision is of a centre that provides a friendly, supportive, caring and warm environment in which people feel comfortable and welcome.
Our vision is of a centre that is at the heart of the community, that is part of the community and is a valued resource for Service Users and residents alike.
2. Objectives – What the Centre needs to offer
The centre will need to offer:
- A 20 bed respite / short-term break facility,
- A 20 bed residential facility,
- Complementary therapeutic services. Including opportunities for Hydrotherapy, physiotherapy, yoga, alternative therapies, etc.
- Facilities for social inclusion. Such as activities within the centre and the wider community aimed at improving inclusion, aided by the community centred philosophy.
- A facility that provides public, social and private living areas.
- Rehabilitation / independent living facilities. Including the provision of outreach services to support people in their own homes.
3. Beneficiary/residents info – information about the intended users.
Griffiths Courts resident’s will be disabled people between the ages of 18 and 65. Each person will be individually assessed using a person centered planning approach.
Residents will have a wide range of impairments including:
- Mobility (including permanent and temporary, manual and electric wheelchair users, and ambulant disabled people)
- Manual dexterity (including people who have experienced Strokes, Multiple Sclerosis, Spinal Cord Injuries, Motor Neuron Disease, Muscular Dystrophy, Cerebral Palsy and Arthritis)
- Physical co-ordination (including people who have experienced illnesses as outlined above)
- Sensory (including hearing, sight and speech)
- Learning difficulties
- Acquired brain injury and/or
- Mental Health impairments
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The centre will need to offer facilities to cope with a wide range of social support and nursing needs utilising the most up to date independent living equipment such as ceiling track hoist systems, washing and drying shower systems, rise and fall hydro baths, rise and fall kitchenette facilities and multi adjustable bathroom equipment.
The user groups can be broadly broken down into:
- Long term residents
- Respite / short term breaks
- Short stay temporary accommodation visitors (holiday type provision)
- Day visit service users
- Local residents and other members of the community
Ideas can be found in the following disability publications:
- Disability Now
- All Together Now
- Ability Needs
- DSC (Disabled & Supportive Carer)
- Able
- Disability View
4. Key considerations – i.e. statutory requirements, regulations, access, safety etc
Griffiths Courts facility will be built to exemplar standards and will raise the bar for other care providers. It will meet and wherever reasonably possible exceed the following key criteria:
- Care Standards
- DDA 1995
- Part M
- BS 8300
The design will include best practice from a wide variety of scheme and innovative ideas developed from the expertise from members of the Design Group, and disabled people and carers who have been involved in pre-consultation.
5. Building details
Reference projects
- Woodlands MS Resource and Respite Care Centre, York.
- The Orchard, Liverpool.
- Fire Service Benevolent Fund, Penrith.
- The Rathbone Hospital, Mersey Care NHS Trust Liverpool.
The building is to be located in Admirals Road, Oakwood, Warrington.
- It is envisaged that the building will be single storey, fully accessible for all impairment groups and modular in design. Accommodation is to be divided between 20 respite / short term breaks and 20 residential rooms in 8 clusters of 5 or 10 clusters of 4 with residential and respite / short term breaks service users in separate clusters. The accommodation will include some bedrooms offering double occupancy to allow for the disabled person’s partner to stay with them.
Each room is to have an individual en-suite with shower and toilet facilities. In addition there should be 1 assisted bathroom per cluster.
Each cluster is to have its own dining room, lounge and kitchen (possibly open plan) and its own staffing station, treatment and storage rooms.
The building will need to provide:
Garage area (Minibus/electric buggies/chairs)
Storage rooms (wheelchairs/hoists etc)
Service kitchen
Lounge/bar
Reception area
Physiotherapy suite
Rehabilitation unit
Hydrotherapy facility
Assisted changing facilities (for hydrotherapy and physio)
Therapy room
Meeting rooms (sub-divisional) and associated toilets
Plant room
Laundry
Hairdressing facility
Staff rooms
Managers/admin offices
Visitor’s accommodation (Double rooms)
External seating
Refuse area
Gardens and community space for residents, visitors and the community
Parking for staff and visitors
A covered ‘drop off’ area
The internal areas will promote the philosophy of public, social and private living areas.
We are consulting, involving and engaging with potential service users and the Birchwood community to ascertain the facilities that they would like to see at Griffiths Court. Initial community consultation suggests the need for accessible green space around Griffiths Court i.e. community gardens and play areas for children as well as community meeting facilities.
