THE BENEFITS OF GOOD INTERIOR DESIGN
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practice such as design for dementia. • Not getting the best finishes, furniture and furnishings solutions to suit your budget. • Ill-considered furniture and fittings provision increases the likelihood that interiors become ‘institutional’ in style. • You may lose the opportunity to increase the health and wellbeing of residents through good design.
WHAT TO EXPECT A good commercial, interior designer, specialising in care environments and experienced in providing services for new build and refurbishment contracts, will be able to work seamlessly with your consultant team. They will provide a structured, managed process for the interior design phase. This will tie in with the main contract programme and critical dates for the project, ensuring requests for information from your consultants and contractor are met and avoiding site delays and their costs. The starting point of any design project is the brief, which is an essential first step. If one does not already exist then your designer will help you develop this to provide a clear and robust framework around which the interior design is formed. They will have an extensive resource and design library. This will contain the latest finishes and materials available for the contract market. You should also expect your designer to be up-to-date with the latest materials that are most suitable or specifically designed for care environments. They should also be able to advise on interiors matters relating to current Building Regulations, British Standards and Care Quality Commission requirements. Timing is important. Commissioning an interior designer early on in a project to plan interior spaces properly can bring to light design issues which might not have been considered. For example, we were brought in late on a project to provide decorative interior design services. On examination of the plans we highlighted that the first thing people coming into the building would see were the double doors of the plant room facing the entrance. Unfortunately at that late stage it would have been too costly and disruptive to reconfigure the access but an earlier involvement would have led to a better and more aesthetic solution. Key traits in a good design company are flexibility of approach, an ability to provide a
breadth of service to suit each individual project and, as necessary, the ability to see a project from the earliest planning stages through to completion and beyond. Whether it be planning stage interior architecture, detailing bespoke joinery (eg. reception desks and bars) or providing the essential finishing touches and accessories to complete your ‘home’, your designer should be able to collaborate with your team to provide a holistic and seamless package covering all your requirements and aspirations.
GOOD DESIGN IN DEMENTIA CARE Nowhere is a collaborative and holistic approach more important than when designing homes for people with dementia. There is increasing evidence that poorly-designed care environments can have a significant and detrimental effect on patients with cognitive problems and dementia, leading to additional distress and confusion. The Government recognised this in autumn 2012 when the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt MP announced £50m of capital funding for improvements to dementia care environments in hospitals and care homes. Designing for dementia is a complex, often confusing and sometimes contradictory discipline, covering an immense range of issues. The challenge is to provide a service that, as its end result, maximises quality of life for residents whilst simultaneously reducing the burden and cost of care delivery. This may appear counterintuitive but good designers are used to handling seemingly contradictory objectives. It is well-recognised that specialist dementia design, based on understanding the impact of
physical environments on people with dementia, can help to: • Reduce falls. • Reduce incidents of behaviours that challenge among service users. • Increase carer involvement. • Foster the personal and professional development of team members, with improvements in staff retention, recruitment, sickness and absence. • Increase productivity and reduced waste by using spaces more effectively. With these goals in mind, an experienced designer can talk you through established best practice and offer bespoke solutions to best suit your needs and those of your particular residents. Cognitive decline introduces a wide variety of difficulties for designers. Whilst doctors research medical advances to combat the condition, designers have a role to help mitigate some of the everyday effects. It is clear that taking steps to ensure environments are appropriately designed enables residents to maintain a measure of independence, allowing them to enjoy some of the skills of daily living. As designers and developers, we have a responsibility to ensure we provide the very best environments to maximise independence and dignity. Designing for the care sector is complicated and challenging. However, if you choose to combine professional design with ambitious development or refurbishment, then there is every opportunity to have real impact on people, giving them greater quality of life and developing a lasting asset for the local community. CMM
Alexandra Ledger is Managing Director at Bright Bay Design. alex.ledger@brightbaydesign.co.uk Have you ever used an interior designer? Share your experiences on the CMM website www.caremanagementmatters.co.uk CMM September 2015 35