Photo : supplied
Reuse , repurpose
Aged care providers could breathe life into old buildings with adaptive reuse .
By Conor Burke
Upgrading aged care facilities will be a focus for many providers in the coming years , while some will need to look at new builds to keep up with new expectations in the sector .
However , there are obvious drawbacks of building an aged care home . They ’ re costly , time consuming and potentially bad for the environment .
But as a global pandemic has changed the way a generation of us will work , could the solution be in the offices many have left behind ?
“ The need for large CBD offices is diminishing and as such , is heightening the scope for adaptive reuse of some older buildings ,” says Kevin Miles , state managing partner of design firm Gray Puksand .
Gray Puksand recently completed work on LDK ’ s Greenway Views Seniors Living in Canberra which made use of the old Department of Social Services buildings .
Using the adaptive reuse model of building and design , architects and building owners can salvage old builds in a sustainable manner . It is seen as an effective way of stopping urban sprawl and limiting the environmental impact of a new build . It is also associated with cost and time savings , and in some countries has tax advantages .
Gray Puksand director of interior design , Maria Correia , says that an obvious plus of reusing office buildings for aged care living is location . “ A lot of elderly people
talk about the fact that they don ’ t want to be isolated from the community ,” she told Aged Care Insite .
“ We ’ re finding a lot of older people , especially people that are into art and culture , music , and theatre , still want to be in the urban environment . They still want to be connected to those things that bring them a lot of joy .”
The newly refurbished aged care living space accommodates 500 people with 380 apartments , ranging from 50 sqm studios to 120 sqm three-bedroom apartments .
Correia says that the building , although unremarkable from the outside , had some great internal assets that made it a good candidate for refurbishment . It came with a fully equipped auditorium , a babbling brook running through the complex and good outdoor space , all of which served as a base for the team to create a living space that encourages socialisation and community .
“ The whole approach to LDK ’ s model is they actually want to encourage residents to use the social spaces rather than just remain in their apartments ,” she said .
“ So Block B , in particular , is the community hub . We created a deli , and it ’ s got a barber , a hairdresser , a grocer , a restaurant , a bar , and a summer and a winter lounge .”
Every detail was pored over in this build to accentuate communal living , even down to where the bins were located .
“ The provider was adamant that he wanted them located outside their apartments , and actually outside the building , to encourage residents to come out of the apartment as a daily ritual , to break that idea of isolation ,” Correia says .
“ Even just a simple thing like lounges . We try to create really different moods . There ’ s a winter lounge , which feels very wintry . It ’ s got lots of books , it ’ s got a library space .
“ There ’ s the cellar lounge , it ’ s got a lot of palm trees . It ’ s very pink , it ’ s very fun . So really just trying , through creating different spaces , creating different moods , encouraging residents to use these social spaces , to break that idea of isolation , and to encourage a sense of community .”
In light of the royal commission the drive to upgrade older facilities will be at the forefront of providers ’ minds and the reusing and refurbishing of otherwise unused spaces might become a trend , Correia believes .
“ I ’ ve spent a very long period of my career living and working in Europe , where space is not always available . In Australia , it ’ s great , we ’ ve got this wonderful space and this opportunity to just build , build , build . But sometimes we ’ re not really thinking about what we ’ ve left behind .
“ And with the challenges of sustainability and how much we can do and being conscious about the environment , I just think it ’ s something we ’ ve got to start thinking a little bit more about .”
Kevin Miles agrees , and argues that given our rapidly ageing population , plus the location of some underutilised buildings , it makes sense to give them new life with a seniors ’ focus .
“ We need to be looking at environmentally sustainable options for creating new aged care buildings that can retain the embodied energy of existing assets and remove the assumption that new builds in the sector are the only option ,” he says . ■ agedcareinsite . com . au 23