Transforming our supported living services: Our refurbishment of Alexandra Park, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea!
Lifeways has carried out an extensive refurbishment at our supported living service in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Northumberland – marking the first of such projects in a plan to transform supported living services across the country.
The Newbiggin service, Alexandra Park – often referred to as Alex Park - is made up of 28 single-occupancy bungalows.
However, the refurbishment presented a challenge: how do you carry out extensive work on someone’s bungalow while they live and receive support there?
Minimising disruption
Our transformation team came up with a plan. In total, 15 bungalows are homes to individuals we support. With the goal to cause as little disruption and inconvenience as possible, the team started by refurbishing four vacant bungalows.
These four newly-refurbished bungalows then served as ‘hotels’ for individuals we support, who moved into them for three weeks, while their own bungalows were being refurbished.
Individuals we support are delighted at the refurbishment of their homes.
“I love my bungalow and love living at Alex Park,” says Allan.
The refurbishment has also made life better for people who have just moved in, including Andrew. “This is my first place,” he says. “I love the bungalow, I have settled in so quickly.”
Refurbishment works are completed on all 28 bungalows.
Each bungalow now has:
- New low surface heat radiators throughout
- LED spot lighting and enhanced lighting outside
- New electrical submeters to measure and track building energy performance
- Fully refurbished bathrooms to wet room standard with either bath or shower
- A new or fully refurbished kitchen
- All rooms fully redecorated with new flooring throughout
We also installed a new, fully integrated intercom system, so the people we support can independently let visitors into their homes.
In the communal area, we also added a new waste management system. This waste management system has simplified waste collections and allows individuals to more effectively recycle.
Leading the refurbishment project at Alex Park was Andrea Ellison, Lifeways’ Head of Property, who leads a team of four in-house property professionals.
“We worked hard to stick to our tight timeline and ensure that we made good on our promise of a smooth living transition.”
“Thank you to everyone who has shared such lovely feedback, including our clients who live in the bungalows, their families and the staff who work in their homes,” Andrea added.
“We’re so happy to hear about the positive impact that we’ve been able to make.”
An important part of delivering high-quality care involves making sure that the people we support have homes where they enjoy living and are happy.
Investing in our property estate is a key part of our transformation agenda. This involves significant investment in our services across the UK, including in residential services and supported living services.
In addition to Alex Park, we have started work upgrading our residential services, and are working at pace to deliver these projects.
About Lifeways:
Lifeways is the UK’s largest team of support professionals providing support for adults in the community.
We support adults with diverse and complex needs, including learning disabilities, autism, physical disabilities, acquired brain injuries, and mental health conditions.
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