Brighton housing scheme with telecare IT wins European design award

20 February 2007

A pioneering UK extra care housing scheme developed by Brighton & Hove City Council and Hanover Housing Association, which uses advanced telecare solutions to help support older people, has won a prestigious European design award.

The New Larchwood extra care scheme was judged alongside 45 other housing schemes across Europe, as part of the Welfare Housing Policies for Older People (WELHOPS), a European Union funded project aimed at promoting independent living.

The £3m housing scheme in Brighton, which consists of 37 self-contained flats, has deployed a complete telecare communication and monitoring package from leading provider Tunstall, to improve housing conditions and support independent living for older people.

The Tunstall telecare system, Communicall, meets the evolving needs of both residents and staff, supporting independence while also providing valuable reassurance and vital contact with staff when required. This helps to minimise risk through the use of a range of intelligent telecare sensors located strategically in the home.

Communicall is specifically designed for the extra care sector, and consists of a network of radio receivers giving full-site coverage, a management terminal and site-wide paging system, alerting staff to the source and nature of an alarm if a sensor is activated, so that timely and effective assistance can be provided.

Councillor Anne Meadows, Chair of Adult Social Care and Health Committee at Brighton and Hove City Council said: “New Larchwood is a real addition to the local community – this exceptional award is much deserved and clearly sets the standard for the future development of older people’s housing.”

Jon Lowe, Director UK and Ireland of Tunstall said: “This scheme is an excellent example of how telecare has been successfully deployed to make a real and tangible benefit to users, improving quality of life and supporting independence for older people through increased security, proactive monitoring and low-level support round-the-clock.”

The telecare package deployed at New Larchwood also incorporates advanced door entry and access control solutions to provide increased security and protection for residents, with visual caller verification through TV sets, and remote control of door entry from anywhere in their apartment.

Door systems meet DDA requirements, supporting residents with disabilities through DDA-compliant door panels, a key fob system and motorised door mechanism to make access to the flats easier for all users.