1196 Tollcross Road

1196 Tollcross Road provides a secure care home for sufferers of Alcohol Related Brain Disease (ARBD) and mainstream family housing for social rent, on the site of a former Primary School in Tollcross, Glasgow. The project was initiated to provide accommodation for ‘throughput’ rehabilitation, providing longer term healing following a hospital visit or rehabilitation programme, as a step towards supported accommodation and greater independence. Designs have been developed with input from the Dementia Services Development Centre, University of Stirling, to accommodate the specific care requirements.

ARBD sufferers have many symptoms in common with dementia, although the condition is different as there is a chance that they can improve. Sufferers tend to have better memory retention and orientation within their environment. Generally, they constitute a younger, more physically able user group than typical dementia sufferers, and therefore may not have the age related issues that can exacerbate disorientation and anxiety such as impaired hearing and eyesight. There are 22 single person studios in total, over two levels, accessed from communal courtyards, providing each resident with their own ‘front door’.

This approach has developed from a desire to create a non-institutional style building and allow the residents a greater sense of independence and control. Open circulation between levels allows ‘wandering’ along meaningful routes, avoiding long institutional corridors with dead ends. Utilising the slope of the site maximises natural light to the studios and courtyard, providing valuable daylight and secure outdoor amenity space, proven to have health benefits for sufferers of dementia.

The studios have been arranged in small clusters of 12 per level, to recognise that larger groupings might cause problems of disorientation and confusion for residents, balanced with the need for supervision from staff. Communal dining areas and lounges are carefully located to be easily accessible by residents and well overlooked by staff. The dining rooms and lounge areas have been designed to be domestic in character, and are positioned along Fullarton Avenue to provide views of the comings and goings of the street, providing comfortable, sociable spaces.