Member Article

Afternoon Tea event at Mill Spring Court following dementia friendly refurbishment

One Vision Housing have completed their latest dementia friendly refurbishment of one of their retirement schemes, Mill Spring Court in Bootle. One Vision Housing are investing over £1m to refurbish all of their retirement schemes, to make them more energy efficient and accessible for people living with dementia.

Sovini Property Services were employed to redevelop all communal areas of the property, including the communal lounge, corridors and entrances.

The property was given distinctive colour schemes, with feature walls, different carpets and different wallpaper throughout to make each section of the property easily identifiable and therefore easier to navigate for anyone living with dementia.

The residents were consulted throughout the refurbishment, and chose the fabrics and colours for all of the soft furnishings, carpets, window blinds and curtains.

To ensure that the social calendar was disrupted as little as possible for the residents throughout the course of the refurbishment, the decision was made to refurbish the communal lounge one half at a time, meaning that the other half was still available for the residents to use for social activities such as art classes, a breakfast club, social evenings and bingo, to which people in the local area are invited.

OVH Independent Living Officer, Jeanette Tinsley, who works with the residents at Mill Spring Court, said: “The refurbishment has created a serene, homely atmosphere that includes all residents in Independent Living.”

One Vision Housing and Sovini Property Services held an afternoon tea event, to officially reopen the communal lounge. The residents were invited to attend and give their feedback about the refurbishment. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with all of the residents pleased with the results and that they had been given the opportunity to be involved during the redesign process.

Following the completion of the refurbishment, the residents at Mill Spring Court said:
“It makes us want to be in the communal lounge more, because we can relax in the beautiful chairs and the atmosphere is calm and friendly.”, “Having a fire place makes the communal lounge feel very homely.”, “The curtains are beautiful and make the place look fresh and bright.” And that the property was now “Nice, bright and fresh all around.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by The Sovini Group .