East of England Items Spring 2017
ESSEX EXTRA CARE PROGRAMME
Life changing" Rosebank Park opens its doors in Essex. Developed in partnership with Ashley House, and managed by One Housing Group, Rosebank Park offers 70 self-contained apartments. The scheme forms part of Essex County Council's £27.7million Independent Living programme, which will help to create up to 1,800 new Independent Living homes over the next five years.
A second scheme comprising 60 apartments in Walton on the Naze is due to open this summer. Work also recently started on site at a third scheme of 73 apartments in Saffron Walden.
THURROCK RIBA EAST WIN
Bruyns Court, Derry Avenue, South Ockendon won the above prestigious award in recognition of its architectural excellence and contribution to society. The housing development provides 25 one and two-bedroom affordable rented homes for people over 55. The scheme was completed in December
2015 and was supported by £1.2m grant funding from the Homes and Communities Agency. It has been designed to HAPPI principles (Housing the Ageing Population Innovation Panel), Lifetime Homes and Code for Sustainable Homes level 4 and is close to local amenities including shops,
the local library and health centre. The scheme was designed by Bell Phillips
Architects and built out by Willmott Dixon.
The designing architects - Bell Phillips also won Architect of the Year and Thurrock was named as Client of the Year in recognition of their ambition for design, development and appetite for growth and place-making.
NORTH STOWE HEALTHY NEW TOWN
South Cambridgeshire District Council is commissioning, on behalf of the Northstowe Healthy New Town partnership research into the housing, support and care needs of older people, in the context of current policy and practice, locally and nationally.
The study will provide an evidence base to assist the authority to determine an appropriate level of provision of accommodation for older people across the new town catchment area, with particular reference to Northstowe and the new larger communities.
It is hoped that the outcomes of the study will be made available to further develop services nationally. More at: http://www.northstowe.com/ (opens new window)
NEXT EASTERN REGIONAL MEETING SAVE THE DATE
The next Eastern Regional Meeting will take place at Suffolk County Council's HQ, Endeavour House on June 30th. The meeting will focus on the future of sheltered housing, developing partnerships to support innovation and new ways of working and investigating why older people decide to move or not move. Check out the Housing LIN events page (opens new window) for more information.
HERTFORDSHIRE HIA PARTNERSHIP
Hertfordshire and five local district and borough councils are working together to develop a shared service which makes the assessment and application process easier and more streamlined for members of the public. It will helping more vulnerable people in Hertfordshire stay safe and well at home, and will improve the efficiency, flexibility and cost effectiveness for the project's partners.
The new service aims to bring these two parts of the process currently processed separately by the county and the districts together, to create a single end-to end service for applicants Customers will have a single named caseworker to ensure the work is carried out properly and to give applicants one person to contact.
Buurtzorg Test and Learn in West Suffolk is given the go ahead
Partners are beginning the process of setting up the first Buurtzorg Test and Learn team in the East of England. The 'test' will initially look to establish one team of self-managed nurses in a neighbourhood of West Suffolk.
The Test and Learn Team in West Suffolk, which was given the go-ahead by the Health and Wellbeing Board at the end of January, will aim to 'test' the Buurtzorg Business Case to assess whether the outcomes seen in the Netherlands can be translated into the UK context. In doing so the Test and Learn objectives will be as follows:
• Better care for clients
• Better working environment for staff
• Financially Viable
• Positive impact on rest of the Health & Social Care System
We await the outcomes with interest.