Transform a dilapidated care home into a vibrant community centre.
The International organisation L’Arche (French for “The Ark”) asked us to help them transform a dilapidated care home into a vibrant community in Ipswich where people with learning difficulties could be supported.
The brief was to create a safe community where 10 people with learning difficulties could live alongside a support team of 6. Based around the principle of a courtyard, the accommodation includes 13no. self-contained apartments, office, a large multi activity space, communal dining and living area, a prayer room, safe external spaces for the residence, adequate parking, soft landscaping, and external seating areas to enhance the environment.
One of the apartments has been designed to accommodate 2 people sharing and meets wheelchair design guide standards with a fully accessible bathroom with hoist facilities.
The scheme also incorporates a Changing Places facility, one of only 1,530 across the UK.
Services provided
- Concept designs
- Securing planning permission
- Obtaining building regulations
- Discharge of planning conditions
- Principal designer duties (CDM 2015)
- Preparation of a working drawing package
Ever felt your architect was not really listening to you? Then he was clearly not Gary Johns! Gary has worked with us for 2 years now on a project which is innovative and challenging - at least for us. He and his team have made sense of our vision, taken it out of the air and put it into viable plans, with a care and thoughtfulness that makes us realise that we are in good hands. He does everything you expect a good architect to do but with the added value of really getting alongside our project group and considering each concern attentively. He understands well the internal tensions that can exist in a group such as ours and the external pressures to meet the expectations of other agencies and funders. Along with excellent communications between ourselves and his team, he has eased the various processes along with good grace and patience - invaluable qualities when dealing with the vagaries of such projects. Highly recommended!
