Project objective
Guild Uxbridge is aimed at addressing a pressing need for specialist accommodation for elder people in the area. The project not only provides much-needed later living accommodation, but it also supports their ongoing wellness and creates and multigenerational community hub in the town centre.
Client challenge
The challenge was to provide a new care community comprising 194 accommodation units in two buildings in a town centre location. The uses of the buildings are varied and require complex stacking arrangement and careful consideration of the functional relationships of the building. The building design and composition also needed to sit confidently as a new piece of townscape and be open and inviting to members of the public thereby creating a destination for the site.
Life3A solution
The proposed scheme will deliver a variety of later living accommodation options, with levels of care tailored to the individual, complemented by a suite of public facilities including a nursery, a cafe and bar, a restaurant, a wellness centre, and an accessible public plaza. An appropriate and considered balance of public and private space ensures the integration of specialist elderly accommodation into an accessible town centre location.
The proposed development makes effective use of land and contributes to employment opportunities while delivering much specialist extra-care housing for older persons. The entrance is of primary importance to draw the public to the plaza and to the communal gardens, creating much needed intergenerational interaction. As such it is conceived as a boulevard with trees on both sides of the road which frame the historical Magistrates’ Court building. The townscape has had to be carefully considered, blending from a more residential area to the north into a more urban townscape to the south.
Exceptional outcome
Guild Living Uxbridge will be an exemplar scheme in terms of architectural design including the standard of facilities, sustainability criteria, landscaping and the provision of support and care. Above all, it creates a safe, welcoming, and homely environment for Guild Members to enjoy.