St Josephs Home of Compassion - new residential wing

The newly completed 16-bed wing connected to the existing facility will help meet the demand for high-quality dementia-level care services among the ageing local population and incorporates a range of contemporary design features particularly suited to dementia-level care.

The development of the new unit has provided an opportunity to put into practice the most recent advances in design for Stage III care, and has resulted in one of New Zealand’s foremost ‘green’ aged-care facilities.

Through thoughtful and considered design, the unit provides an environment that includes many familiar home elements and provides secure containment. Easy circulation routes, good natural light and ventilation, along with easy access to contained outdoor spaces, all help create a lively, pleasant environment for residents, visitors and staff. Colours have been used as cues for familiarity throughout the building, for example all bathroom doors are the same colour. The use of earthy colour tones throughout the facility is essential in creating a calming environment for residents and ties in with the strong use of natural materials within the project.

The large individual bedrooms each have their own private bathroom and storage for residents’ personal belongings. An unobtrusive monitoring system, together with the latest nurse-call technology, allows staff to monitor the comfort and safety of residents at all times, while still allowing residents freedom and autonomy.

Throughout the development of the project, there has been a major emphasis on sustainable design practices. While there is currently no New Zealand Green Star rating applicable to aged-care facilities, this project has been designed to the equivalent Australian standard.

The new unit incorporates the latest in sustainable ideals to ensure minimal negative effect on the environment. Site planning, material selections, equipment choices, building services and landscaping design were all evaluated to align with the applicable green rating standards. Environmentally sustainable design (ESD) requires critical thought and planning effort during the design and construction stages, but the end result is a building that both reduces ongoing running costs and minimises its impact on the environment.

The building features a completely automated building management system, to ensure it is always running at its most efficient levels. For example, the air-conditioning systems are designed to automatically switch off when windows are opened, minimising power consumption.

The St Joseph’s Home of Compassion Dementia Unit has been praised for its homely interpretation of what can be a drab and unpleasant care environment. The comfortable living accommodation has been embraced by both residents and staff, setting the bar high for future developments of this type.

Colours used: Resene Altitude, Resene Aspiring, Resene Drover, Resene Eighth Hillary, Resene Green White, Resene Half Sea Fog, Resene Lifesaver, Resene Sisal, Resene Travertine, Resene Urbane, Resene Vision, Resene Xanadu.

Products used: Resene SpaceCote Low Sheen, Resene Lustacryl, Resene Aquaclear, Resene Uracryl 402, Resene Uracryl 403.

Architectural Specifier: BKBTA
Building Contractor: Maycroft Construction Ltd
Colour Selection: BKBTA – Russell Allen
Painting Contractor: Alternative Decoration Ltd
Photographer: Colin McDiarmid, BKBTA
Project: Resene Total Colour Awards 2010

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