Welhops housing design guidelines

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Wel_hops: Welfare Housing Policies for Senior Citizens

Welfare Housing Policies for Senior Citizens (Wel_hops) is a European Union part funded project involving partners from Italy, Sweden, Spain, Hungary and the UK (represented by Brighton & Hove City Council).

Between 2005 and 2007, the project has been examining good practice in the design of older persons housing. This work has led to the publication of Older Persons’ Housing Design: A European Good Practice Guide accompanied by a DVD/CD-ROM Better by Design resource pack.

Older Persons Housing Design: A European Good Practice Guide

This guide has been designed to be non-technical and jargon free to help bridge the gap in understanding and communications between older people and those responsible for funding, designing and developing housing, and also as a learning resource for aspiring professionals. We hope that it will become a valuable companion to the excellent technical guides currently available.

We are very aware that the features which make housing particularly suitable for older people also make it accessible to others. By ensuring new homes are designed with accessibility in mind we will provide homes suitable for our changing needs as we age.

The guide can be downloaded here (broadband or other high speed internet access recommended):

• Older Person's Housing Design: A European Good Practice Guide Front Cover [PDF 2104kb]
• Older Person's Housing Design: A European Good Practice Guide Introduction [PDF 1492kb]
• Older Person's Housing Design: A European Good Practice Guide Section A – The Home [PDF 45485kb]
• Older Person's Housing Design: A European Good Practice Guide Section B – Common Areas [PDF 39246kb]
• Older Person's Housing Design: A European Good Practice Guide Section C – Grounds [PDF 4229kb]
• Older Person's Housing Design: A European Good Practice Guide Section D – Urban Context [PDF2824kb]
• Older Person's Housing Design: A European Good Practice Guide Refurbishment [PDF 1276kb]
• Older Person's Housing Design: A European Good Practice Guide Bibliography & Acknowledgements [PDF 3359kb]
• Older Person's Housing Design: A European Good Practice Guide Back Cover [PDF 132kb]

These documents are in Portable Document Format (PDF). You can download Adobe Reader free of charge (but please check that it will run on your machine before downloading).

Better by Design – a DVD/CD-ROM Resource Pack

The design guide is accompanied by Better by Design, a DVD & CD-ROM Resource pack developed in partnership with the Department of Health. The pack features:

• a DVD with 2 films featuring best practice from UK and Italian award winning schemes with interviews with professionals and residents.
• a CD-ROM that has an electronic copy of the design guide and more than 50 factsheets and toolkits on older peoples housing provided by the Department of Health Care Services Improvement Partnership.

The Wel_hops Partnership

Brighton & Hove City Council has been proud to be the UK lead on such an important piece of work that has the potential to benefit millions of people in a large number of countries, and ultimately all of us as we age.

The other project partners can be reached through the links below:

• ERVET (Lead Partner), Emilia Romagna Economic Development Agency, Italy
• Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden
• FAMCP, Aragonese Federation of Municipalities Regions & Provinces, Spain
• Municipality of Gyor, Hungary 
• Department of Health Care Services Improvement Partnership

This project was part funded under the European Union INTERREG IIIC programme.

Contact Information

Housing Strategy Manager,
Brighton & Hove City Council
Tel: +44 (0)1273 293189
Email: housing.strategy@brighton-hove.gov.uk