Meeting the demand for aged care with vacant CBD office towers

The former new Continent Unity headquarters is being transformed into an older-care facility.

With some CBD office towers likely to be vacated post-COVID-19, and a maturation demand from the Baby Boomer population for good, post-royal direction aged care, someplace in there could follow the solution to both problems.

Architect Kevin Miles is convinced of IT. Atomic number 2's just finished converting three long-ago Department of Interpersonal Services buildings in Canberra into a seniors' living complex and believes this could be the way forrader.

"Given the ageing of our population and location of some under-utilised buildings, it makes sense to give them new life with a seniors' focus on," said Mister Miles, the State Department managing partner of architectural firm Gray Puksand.

"We need to be looking at environmentally property options for creating new aged-care buildings that can retain the embodied muscularity of the existing asset. And with the challenges of COVID-19 making working from home commonplace, the ask for large CBD offices is diminishing and intensifying the scope for their adaptive re-usage."

Working with new aged-care provider LDK Healthcare – Love, Dignity & Kindness –  and Cromwell Property Radical to deliver Greenway Views Elderly Keep, it's a trend that's starting to be seen in various pockets of Australia although it already has some currency overseas.

The attractiveness is unmistakable: many older people would favour to downsize into retreat living someplace in the city, close to all amenities, preferably than a conventional village in the suburbs.

Office buildings, with their large floorplates, views from along high, much retail at a lower place and usually right in the center of CBDs, can be ripe for reinvention.

Charles River Fortin, managing director of lifestyle retirement, specialist care and health architects CM+A, says helium's seen aged care being matured in metropolis towers before in other parts of the world. "I was exposed to cardinal in the US old age agone, but that was a 5-star hotel in Chicago being turned into aged care," he said.

"That was a selfsame fresh exemplar and, while I haven't seen office towers converted, that would make a lot of common sense. When people retire, they power want a sea change at first, but after they want to go around back to where the action is. In that location's a solid example in the Swiss capital letter Berne where aged living has been built next to a giant sports stadium downtown, and the great unwashe on that point love looking exterior from their balconies at all the action."

At home, we have another example, where the former headquarters of Australian Unity in South Melbourne is being regenerate into aged care, side by side door to The Grace vertical retirement village.

Transition of the 1970s building at 114 Albert Road presents plenty of challenges as it wasn't configured to the higher standards of residential accommodation and the load-bearings have to be reassessed as well as the fabric of the building renewed.

Likewise, it has a flight of steps into the building at the entrance. "And then, the archetypal thing we have to coiffure is lower the whole floor, so information technology has an easier entry," said Lothringen Calder, the general director of places at Australian Unity and a former architect. "Then we have to inspissate up the walls and the core that supports the floors to bring them up to standard.

"It's easier with a more innovative office block as they're higher quality and have paid more aid to the work-spirit Balance of employees, so they'll often have outdoor terraces and beautiful rooftop terraces and include a lot more brightness level."

For this building, the not-load-aim partitions are being torn exterior, a honey oil wall is being constructed where one side of the building looks out onto another office stymie, and voids are organism punched in to give people views and access to other parts of the building.

Then new rooms are being constructed for the 17 hoi polloi of each "household" happening separate floors, windows are being taken out on some floors to create "outdoor" wintertime gardens, and unanimous floors are organism refitted with communal facilities. With a rooftop garden to be constructed too, work is expected to coating in late 2022 or early 2023.

For C-rate assets, particularly, and auld assets in the main, this could normal a unanimous new rental of life. Cromwell Property's chief sustainability police officer Phil Cowling says adaptive re-utilise is such a worthwhile goal, quite than prodigally tearing down and starting again with its Brobdingnagian carbon paper footprint.

"With the Canberra office buildings [used for Greenbelt Views], we looked number one at turning them into an education or health facility, but then corporate partners LDK came on, and we could see there's an enormous, and growing, involve for aged care," Mr Hood same.

"We also set higher performance goals with our work the building, like 50 per cent better Energy efficiency, so straight off heating bills will be much lower for the ageing residents who often want to make unnecessary a few dollars.".

The conversions derriere still beryllium tricky, however. "You cause to improve the fabric of the construction, with glazing and insulation for the roof and walls, break floors up into multiple rooms and add balconies or outdoor spaces if you can, and bring in bathrooms, and really add lots of amenity," Mr Miles said.

Downstairs at Greenway Views, there's at once also a hub of retail that's been curated, with a grocer, hairstylist, men's shed, cafe and eating place, and there is plenty of basement storage, sol residents don't have to part with so many another possessions when they downsize. An hoary auditorium has been converted into a movie theatre of operation and meeting way, and there are spaces for studying and computers.

The interiors stimulate been planned to avoid the familiar impotent atmosphere of some aged-care facilities. Instead of handrails, for instance, there's furniture that elderly residents potty lean on instead.

"We're now already lecture other aged care providers all but this project," Mr Miles said. "It's great to re-utilise existing buildings and repurpose them for a good cause!"

Originally publicized connected www.commercialrealestate.com.au. Republished with permission.

https://hellocare.com.au/meeting-the-demand-for-aged-care-with-vacant-cbd-office-towers/

Source: https://hellocare.com.au/meeting-the-demand-for-aged-care-with-vacant-cbd-office-towers/