The Gateshead Housing Standard for Ageing Well

We want our homes, whether we live in conventional or specialist housing, to be places that we feel proud to live in and support us to age well. This section identifies the key design features that we consider essential for homes that enable people to age well. 

Designing for ageing well is about creating spacious and accessible homes to facilitate 'ageing in place', in line with Gateshead Council's guidance encouraging adherence to Building Regulation standards M4(2) and M4(3) for new housing developments. It also means applying influential design principles such as the HAPPI design principles and dementia-friendly design considerations, aiming to create inclusive and adaptable housing environments that meet the changing needs of older residents, including those with visual and hearing impairments, within both specialist and conventional housing contexts. 

79% of survey respondents said that it was very important that their home is accessible.

75% of survey respondents said that it was very important that their home adapts to their needs as they change.

Features an accessible home must include

Space and Accessibility Standards

The qualitative evidence from local residents indicates a desire for spacious and accessible homes that enable people to remaining living in their existing homes for as long as possible for example, to be able to 'age in place'. 

Gateshead Council through the 2022 Specialist and Supported Housing Supplementary Planning Guidance and 2021 Local Plan 'Making Spaces for Growing Places' (PDF, 8 MB)states that: 

• For conventional/mainstream housing: The council encourages the provision of 25% or more of new conventional/mainstream homes to meet Building Regulation M4(2) Category 2: Accessible and Adaptable Dwellings standard or equivalent successor standards on housing developments of 15 or more dwellings. Where bungalows and apartments/flats are proposed the council encourages proposals to go beyond the minimum policy requirements set out above and provision of more than 25% M4(2) homes on site will be encouraged by the Council in view of local needs evidence. 
• For specialist and supported housing: there is an expectation specialist and supported accommodation will satisfy the Building Regulations Standard 17 M4(2) as a minimum, and as appropriate M4(3) Category 3: Wheelchair User Dwelling. 

What do these accessibility standards mean? 

The Building Regulations 2010 Access to and Use of Buildings: Approved Document M22 provides information about the ease of access to, and use of, buildings, including facilities for disabled visitors or occupants, and the ability to move through a building easily including to toilets and bathrooms. Requirements M4(2) and M4(3) are 'optional requirements' as defined by the Building Regulations, however, see the Gateshead Council's guidance on adherence to these requirements. 

• M4(2) - A higher level of accessibility that is beneficial to a wide range of people who occupy or visit the dwelling with particular benefit to older and disabled people including some wheelchair users. Features to enable common adaptations. 
• M4(3) - Suitable, or potentially suitable through adaptation, to be occupied by wheelchair users. 

"I want to see the best accessibly standards for all new housing and to be applied to existing housing stock. Owners and renters need help with repairs and raising insulation & accessibility standards, eliminating damp/mould. We need homes that are more comfortable with lower running costs" - Gateshead resident 

The HAPPI design principles

The Housing our Ageing Population: Panel for Innovation (HAPPI) (opens new window)design principles have been and continue to be highly influential, informing good design of a spectrum of specialist older persons' housing which needs to offer both an attractive alternative to the family home, and be able to adapt over time to meet changing needs. 

The HAPPI principles are now starting to be more widely recognised as applicable to informing design across non-specialist homes. This housing standard encourages HAPPI compliance as far as possible across all housing, whether specialist or conventional. They are desirable but may not be feasible in all contexts, particularly when applied to making changes in existing homes. 

The HAPPI principles are based on 10 key design criteria:

• space and flexibility 
• daylight 
• outdoor space 
• adaptability and 'care ready' design 
• circulation space 
• shared facilities and hubs 
• natural environment 
• sustainable design 
• storage 
• external shared surfaces and home zones 

Case study: Tree Top Village, Walker, Newcastle (opens new window)
Exclusively for people over the age of 55, Tree Top Village is HAPPI compliant and consists of a main building, offering 75 sheltered housing apartments, bordered by 36 one and two-bedroom homes and 8 bungalows with gardens. All flats are designed to wheelchair mobility standard, and a range of flats also provide enhanced levels of accessibility for residents with higher mobility needs. 
With a hotel-like feel, the main building is centred around a glass atrium with a lobby, reminiscence library, Italian restaurant, hair and beauty salon, mobility shop, and card and gift shop. These amenities are open to the public, to support the integration of older people with the wider community, as well as bring investment to the local area. 
The apartments are spread over four floors and all have either a private balcony or outdoor courtyard area. Features inside the apartments include high specification kitchens and bathrooms, spacious bedrooms and light and airy lounges, many with views of Newcastle's iconic skyline. Each of the properties can also easily be adapted to respond to a range of needs and has a level access shower, a transfer area and access to an on-site scooter store.  

Case study: Appleby Blue, Southwark (opens new window)
Appleby Blue is an Almshouse run by United St Saviour's Charity, offering 57 spacious homes in a lively community setting to people over 65. Located in the heart of Bermondsey with a bus stop right outside and the hustle and bustle of inner-city living, Appleby Blue enables its residents to remain active members of a thriving, intergenerational and diverse London community.
The main communal space, the Garden Room, opens on to a planted garden court with a raised water feature running throughout, designed by Grant Associates. It forms the traditional almshouse courtyard style centre of the building, offering a space for residents and visitors to socialise or relax in peace and quiet. The Appleby Blue community kitchen sits at the heart of the building, as a kitchen should, with United St Saviour's Charity running culinary-based community projects with local organisations to foster intergenerational connectivity in Southwark and provide important upskilling opportunities for young people in the borough. 
The 2 to 5 storey design enables a cascading level of interaction between the surrounding community and the almshouse residents. A roof terrace includes raised beds for growing herbs and vegetables. The detail of the project is impressive, with raised beds created with residents in mind, to enable recreational gardening activities despite varying mobility levels. Appleby Blue adheres to the HAPPI design principles. 

Case study:Addison House, Cardiff (opens new window)
Addison House is one of Cardiff Council's new Community Living schemes providing 'homes for life' for people aged 55+ for social rent. It is located within a new multi-generational neighbourhood and consists of 44 one or two bedroom apartments on 5 floors with lift access. The scheme has communal facilities such as a lounge, roof terrace/lounge with views across the Bristol Channel, a laundry room, a courtyard garden, parking spaces including electrical car charging points and facilities for storing and charging mobility scooters. 
The scheme has been designed to RNIB Platinum standards and complies with the HAPPI standards. The flats are dual aspect, spacious and open plan and have large private balconies to create a light and airy space. The flats are designed to be flexible enough to adapt around people's changing needs. 
All of the homes will incorporate renewable technologies and smart energy management systems to significantly reduce the energy demand on the grid, as well as helping to tackle fuel poverty by significantly reducing energy bills. There is a ground source heat pump under the central communal garden. 

Dementia-friendly design

In 2020, 6% (2,527) of people over the age of 65 were living with dementia in Gateshead; this is projected to increase by 36% to 3,437 by 2040. Consideration should be given to making our homes dementia-friendly, whether older people choose to remain living in their existing homes or move to specialist accommodation. 

The University of Stirling's Designing Homes for Cognitive Ageing (DesHCA) project (opens new window)sets out key general principles for dementia-friendly housing design that can be incorporated into designing new housing or improving an existing home. These focus on internal design features: 

• Contrast 
• Colour 
• Pattern 
• Light 
• Reflections 

The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Housing and Care for Older People is an informal cross party group that promote discussions and sets the agenda for developing better, more joined up housing care for older people, promising greater choices in later life. The APPG report 'Housing for people with dementia - are we ready?' (opens new window) applies dementia-friendly considerations to the HAPPI principles. Gateshead Council is keen that these principles are applied within a specialist housing setting, such as extra care housing. These principles are summarised below but see the annexe for full details. 

Dementia-ready HAPPI features

1. Generous internal space standards that are familiar, safe, easy to understand, navigate and move around independently and consideration of acoustic performance. 
2. Plenty of natural light with good visual access avoiding glare. 
3. Balconies and ease of access to outdoor space, avoiding long internal dead-end corridors and single aspect flats that might isolate someone with dementia. 
4. Future adaptability and modifications which are 'dementia-ready'. 
5. Generous circulation spaces that are recognisable, clear, step free and easy to navigate without reliance on signage, lead to an activity or destination to encourage social interaction. Provision of seating alcoves, effective colour ways and points of interest (for example, art and pictures) to aid wayfinding. 
6. Open and welcoming access to outward facing, on-site shared facilities or community 'hubs'. Flexible spaces to provide opportunities for both social interaction and quieter, intimate scale spaces. 
7. Providing helpful stimulation and clear orientation with easy access to green space. Consider outdoor surfaces, covered spaces, textures and contrasts, looped paths and opportunities for purposeful activity. 
8. Energy efficient low carbon design and specification. Easy to use and understandable and familiar looking controls. 
9. Extra storage for personal belongings within individual dwellings and ease of access to mobility and other aids. 
10. Hazard free external environment, well-lit and appropriate use of signage or cues and level pedestrian access with close proximity to accessible public transport and neighbourhood amenities. 

Case Study: Watergate Court, Gateshead 
Watergate Court in Gateshead is an extra care housing scheme that opened in 2022 for people aged 65+ with a care or support need, people who are over 55 may still be considered depending on their needs. 
With 82 homes, it provides more homes than typical extra care housing but this larger scale has meant that Home Group have been able to create a luxury hotel feel with the interior design fixtures and fittings. It provides 47 one bedroom apartments and 20 two bedroom apartments. 
In response to the increasing number of people living with dementia in Gateshead, Watergate Court has been designed to be dementia friendly and also includes 15 dementia-friendly apartments which are designed to be more open plan so residents can see around their home. There is extra security in this part of the building, but it doesn't feel isolated from the rest of the building. 
Watergate Court also has open plan communal lounges, restaurant, coffee bar, treatment rooms, guest rooms, assisted bathrooms and an EV charger. The open communal spaces have been split up using interior furnishings, which create more intimate spaces and invite people to use the space. 

Case study: Norba Court, Tower Hamlets, London (opens new window)
Norba Court is a redevelopment of a former Gateway Housing Association sheltered housing sheltered site that has maximised and increased the number of homes available from 32 to 46, six of which are dedicated wheelchair accessible. 
Gateway has worked with the University of Stirling (Scotland) Dementia Design Services Team to ensure that the design construction, fixtures, and fittings at Norba Court support the total wellbeing, safety and promotes social connection of residents who will live here. The redevelopment has also provided 14 shared ownership homes (adjacent to Norba Court, called Trajan Court) addressing affordability issues in the local area. 

Designing for visual impairments 

We want our homes to be designed to accommodate visual impairment. Inclusive designer's, Motionspot, have selection of design considerations for people with a visual impairment. (opens new window)

For example: 

• the use of colour contrast throughout the building, including on fixtures and fittings consistency of materials and colour scheme and tones throughout the flooring. 
• consistent, even lighting should be applied throughout and in particular across the floor. 
• use of signage to make it easier to navigate. 
• extra help, such as support rails, perching benches and quiet seating spaces. 

Designing for hearing impairments 

We also want our homes to consider the needs of those of us with limited hearing, particularly in specialist housing by: 

• Providing adequate sound separation and reduction of reverberation. 
• Considering the acoustic separation of noisy rooms. 
• Specify a high acoustic absorbency for finishes in large spaces with higher ceilings such as lounges and dining rooms to reduce echoes. 
• Provide hearing loops in specialist housing with larger communal areas. 

Application to Specialist Housing 

The qualitative evidence demonstrated that local people are seeking contemporary internal and external design in specialist housing for older people that avoids an institutional look and feel. Gateshead Council has a Service Specification for Extra Care Accommodation aligned with the Gateshead Housing Standard for Ageing Well that should be referred to when considering new extra care housing developments.