Witherford Watson Mann’s new anti-loneliness model for later living: How an almshouse charity helped to connect older residents with their community in the heart of London

The question of how to house an ageing population so that older people have healthy, happy and fulfilling lives and at the same time free up family-sized homes is one of the most pressing of our times. The later living community sector is growing, but more is needed and the schemes that are built are mostly in remote locations or expensive and on the edge of towns. Many people are reluctant to leave the family home because the alternatives do not appeal, or it means leaving the area where they have spent most of their lives.

This is a question with which the United St Saviour’s Charity has been grappling, arguably for the past 500 years. With a history stretching back to 1541, part of the charity’s remit is to provide sheltered housing for older people with limited means who live in Southwark.

It owns two, very different almshouses. The grade II* listed Hopton Almshouse, next to Tate Modern, dates from 1752 and features a traditional, U-shaped plan with small single-storey homes arranged around a garden facing the street. The second scheme, St Saviour’s Court is an off-the-shelf, four-storey McCarthy Stone development dating from 2006 in Purley with 53 one and two-bedroom flats arranged on either side of central corridors.

A third scheme, designed by architect Witherford Watson Mann, has just joined this duo and, in keeping with the United St Saviour’s Charity history, differs again in a bid to answer that difficult question of how to satisfactorily accommodate our ageing population.

 

The visibility of the street is really important to old people as they don’t want to be isolated

Stephen Witherford, Witherford Watson

Appleby Blue, as the scheme is called, includes 57 homes in a five-storey brick building fronting directly onto Southwark Park Road. Spanning the width of the two residential streets at the back, this part of the building drops down to two storeys to match the height of the Victorian houses on each road.

The building’s mass is softened considerably with a distinctive kink away from the street in the centre of the facade, a set-back, zinc-clad top storey and a distinctive double-height, oak-framed bay window or screen occupying two-thirds the length of the facade. This steps inwards at one end to make space for a bus stop handily located outside the building entrance.

The whole effect is well proportioned and polite. In this context the large bay window is the most unusual feature and begs the question – what is it for?

This window is the most outward expression of the design philosophy underpinning this scheme, which is to prevent loneliness and isolation by creating spaces where people can interact. It provides a window onto the world.

“The visibility of the street is really important to old people as they don’t want to be isolated,” says Stephen Witherford, director at Witherford Watson Mann.” He adds that residents are already bringing wine and sitting in the big bay window on the first floor overlooking the street on Saturday evenings so they can watch the world go by.

This is the same philosophy that underpins Mae Architects’ Stirling Prize-winning John Morden Centre, a day care centre for the residents of Morden College, another charity that provides homes and support for older people. There are differences, though. Appleby Blue is primarily residential and is part of a network of tight urban streets, whereas the John Morden Centre sits in the rolling parkland of Blackheath.

Perhaps the biggest difference is that public access to Morden College is limited whereas Appleby Blue has been specifically designed to bring the public inside. “The overriding thing that came out of our research was how important it was for people to live in a community with opportunities for them,” says Stephen Witherford, director at Witherford Watson Mann.

He adds that the U-shaped plan of Appleby Blue is the opposite of a traditional almshouse as the quieter, more contemplative garden faces away from the street with social spaces fronting directly onto the high street.

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The United St Saviour’s Charity has strong relationships with local community organisations including youth groups. The idea is that Appleby Blue will become a hub for these organisations which include theatre, gardening and cookery groups.

The ground floor of the building is dedicated to this function with a large, double-height, multi-purpose space sandwiched between the bay window at the front so that people on the street can see what is happening inside. There is also a courtyard at the centre of the building.

A kitchen fitted out for commercial use is situated at one end of this space. “We are trying to create a place where everything feels very reciprocal without a big generational divide,” says Martyn Craddock, the CEO of United St Saviour’s Charity.

“We will be asking the groups that come in here for activities how they will engage with the old people that live here to help deliver those activities, and give something back? So, if the young person’s group comes in to cook, they can cook by themselves but afterwards perhaps the older people can eat with them, or they can leave behind some ingredients that they can use the next day.”

The Appleby Blue office is also located on the ground floor so that staff and residents can interact as they go in and out to further reduce isolation.

The apartments are arranged around the courtyard garden. A two-storey block closes off the open end of the U-shaped plan to fit in more accommodation. The apartments on the third floor and above have clear views over the gardens of the Victorian homes behind the scheme.

In a continuation of the philosophy behind the bay window at the front of the building, the same oak and glass fenestration protects the balcony access to the apartments from the weather. These balconies are also an important social space as they feature places to sit and planters so that residents can personalise the space outside their front door.

When we spoke to residents, the last thing they wanted was another place to sit on their own,  We negotiated with Southwark to take the balcony space provision to make the walkways much more generous

Stephen Witherford, Witherford Watson Mann

A similar approach has been adopted at John Morden Centre, which features a glazed colonnade with built-in seating to encourage interaction between building users. At Appleby Blue the apartment living and bedroom spaces face the street and the kitchens face onto the balcony and include a window so that residents can see what is happening outside.

Unusually there are no private balconies, which are a requirement of the London Design Guide. “When we spoke to residents, the last thing they wanted was another place to sit on their own,” Witherford says. “So individual balconies were not desirable for older people. We negotiated with Southwark to take the balcony space provision to make the walkways much more generous.”

The generous balconies are flooded with light and afford good views over the courtyard garden and the rooftop garden at higher levels. When Building visited, some residents were sitting outside their apartments with friends and relatives enjoying the sunshine. The glazing includes automated opening lights to manage overheating issues.

Although it is early days, with the last resident moving in very recently, the signs are positive. The apartments, although simple, are spacious and attractive, there are other facilities including a resident’s lounge, hobbies room and a space for learning digital skills on the first floor adjacent to the bay window.

A sense of calm pervades the space and the building is detailed to a very high standard which was expensive but not prohibitive. The project cost £25m which works out at £4,310m². The costs were benchmarked against eight schemes and came in at the upper end of the price range.

Is this scheme a solution to the question of how to ensure older people live happy, fulfilling lives and help free up family homes? Craddock thinks so.

“We have people here that have moved from three-bedroom council homes. They would probably have stayed in these forever, but what we have done is build something that has enticed them away from that because of the building’s quality and the fact it doesn’t have that sheltered housing stigma.

“And people will move out [of their family homes], when they are still younger and maybe spend 20 years in a happy home that hopefully is their best home. At the moment people tend to move to our other almshouses in their late 80s, whereas we have got people moving in here in their late 60s.”

The plan is to back these early indications of the scheme’s success with proper evidence. The United St Saviour’s Charity will research the outcomes of this project, working with Bournemouth University and UCL.

It was even included two studio spaces for researchers to live on site and become embedded in the community. If this work proves the theory, then this scheme could become an exemplar for others to follow.