Principal engineer on the Sylvia Richardson Care Facility enjoyed the challenge of turning what was initially a military barracks into a homely setting.

Works and Engineering principal engineer Lucy Chung said the two buildings were nearly identical.

“(They were) two British military barracks dating from the 1870s, which we incorporated into the existing facility.”

She explained that they decided to incorporate these two existing structures into the complex for a number of reasons.

“We felt the buildings were quite interesting,” she said. “The ceilings were high and the rhythm of the column spacing worked well with the layout for the suites.

“The buildings were not Listed buildings, but were considered historically significant. We felt the buildings were in generally good condition and it would be good practice to give them a new life rather than simply demolish them.”

But this did not come without its challenges, as working with existing structures can mean more work.

“This is because as one is not starting from a blank slate, there is also a significant amount of resources to be saved by reusing an existing structure,” Ms Chung said. “The walls were 24 inches thick and all that material is still in use and not in a landfill. For the design team this was considered a resource not to be squandered.

“Of course there were some surprises when work started on site, but that is not uncommon with renovation projects. This contributed to a delay in the construction schedule, but we are still convinced it was the right decision.

“There were a number of restrictions of the site, which meant that even if the buildings had been demolished, the footprint on which we could build would have been similar to what is now in place.

“The large area to the south of the site is zoned Woodland so we could not build on that,” she said. “And the northeast corner of the open area is zoned Arable Land so we could not build on that. There was an existing tank right behind one of the existing buildings so we could not build on that without filling it all in.”

After being a military barracks, the buildings were converted for use as St. George’s Secondary School, so when asked how difficult it was it to convert a school into a rest home, she said: “The width of the existing buildings were just right for a suite so what we did was add an interior corridor on the northern side of each existing block.

“What this resulted in was what is called a single-loaded corridor, that is the corridor opens to rooms on one side and is open to the exterior on the other. This meant that we were able to have windows offering natural light along the whole length of the corridor, so there are no long dark corridors. In addition, we provided sort of niches along the corridor so that there are areas where the residents could gather at — it is not a straight flat run.”

When describing the wings, Ms Chung explained: “There are basically four distinct wings that we called Blocks A,B,C and D.

“A and B are the existing structures and this is where the majority of the sleeping rooms are located. All rooms, by the way, except for the three respite rooms, open up directly to the verandahs, thus increasing the living space in each unit.

“In Block C there is new construction that links the existing Blocks A and B together. Here is where the main entrance is located. Block D is also new construction and is the Harmony/Alzheimer’s Unit.

“The Harmony wing was designed as a self contained unit to accommodate residents living with Alzheimer’s and dementia. It opens up to a garden courtyard, that is also secured, so these residents have free access to exterior spaces as well.

“Within the wing we’ve designed the corridor so that it forms a couple of continuous loops because it is well known that many residents with dementia tend to wander, so we’ve given them the opportunity to do so within the layout of the wing.”

Ms Chung says there is also a massive tank under the garden outside of the Harmony Unit.

“We are making use of it and it is considered very large. It is an impressive structure with large supporting arches.”

Planning the facility also required visits to other rest homes to find out what would work best, she said.

“We learned many things from these facilities, some of it to do with design issues, but also a lot to do with the operations of the facility. “They noticed an increased number of homes with a single resident per room (and) an increased use of kerbless showers rather than standard bathtubs, because it is difficult and dangerous for many seniors to get in and out of a tub.

“There was an increased need for various common spaces to accommodate day programmes. Day programmes allow more seniors to continue living in their own homes.

“Many facilities were using hotels as models rather than institutions,” she added.

“Bendell Design was responsible for the interior design of the facility and we feel they did a terrific job at creating a lovely living environment with such things as the use of various colours to distinguish each wing.

“This is something we saw used at other facilities as well; the use of window treatment; the selection of the furniture and artwork. Even the signage was well thought out.

“We also used sliding doors to the residents’ bathrooms in order to maximise the use of space. The healing garden of the Harmony/Alzheimer’s wing was something that many residential centres were incorporating into their facilities.”