Introduction
This step is about ensuring that your strategy and approach towards developing your business plan draws on best practice such as:
- National and local research, examples and benchmarks relating to best practice in the development of housing options for older people, particularly that which is relevant to your local area.
- Housing business plans developed by other local areas through discussions with developers, operators, commissioners, growth or investment teams, and planners elsewhere.
This step will improve the quality of your business plan by widening the lens beyond your own local authority to identify and learn from what is already working well in other areas and detect any gaps in your own strategy or process that need to be addressed.
It will also help develop more detailed and technical specifications, based on best practice, for the capital and/or revenue investment opportunities identified in your business case. This in turn will ensure investors and developer have more clarity about expectations in terms of high-quality design and service delivery that meets the need of older people.
Key questions
You will need to consult published research and data and talk to other commissioners to understand:
Development standards and guides
- What does the evidence base say about best practice and innovation in the development of different types of age-friendly general housing and housing with care and support for older people?
Inclusive design
- What does the evidence base say about best practice and innovation in the development of new housing with care and support for older people, with a particular focus on equality, diversity and inclusion?
Peer review
- How have other local areas with similar local profiles developed and delivered their business cases? (This could also be a housing strategy, development plan or other housing-related report.)
- Learning from how local areas whose business plans are recognised as representing good practice, developed and delivered their plans?
How to?
Development standards and guides
- Consult published guidance on best practice in the development of the different types of general and specialist housing options for older people. There are a number of guidelines and standards you should consult, depending on the type and level of investment you would like included in your business plan.
- In developing your specifications for investment opportunities, it is also important you consider developments that have successfully used such guidance. Sources include: Housing LIN design hub tools and case studies and SCIE housing with care and support promising practice examples and case studies.
Inclusive design
- Consult published guidance on best practice and innovation in the development of housing options for specific groups, considering equality, diversity and inclusion: People living with dementia, autistic people and/or people with learning disabilities, LGBTQ+ groups, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with physical, visual or hearing impairments.
- Again, in developing your specifications for investment opportunities, it is also important you consider developments that have successfully used such guidance. Sources include: The Housing LIN curates a selection of dedicated pages with relevant tools, resources and case studies and SCIE housing with care and support promising practice examples and case studies.
Peer review
Speak with commissioners from other local authorities with similar local profiles, for example, similar socioeconomic and demographic profiles, or similar housing stock challenges, to understand:
- The housing and supply solutions they have explored.
- The challenges they have encountered and how these have been addressed.
- How they have made decisions about the capital and/or revenue investment opportunities included in their business plan.
- Any innovative examples of new housing development or repurposing existing housing.
- The relationships they have built with the sector, including funders and developers and how they engaged with communities to co-design/co-produce solutions.
Speak with commissioners whose business plans have been recognised as representing good practice to understand:
- How they developed and delivered their plan?
- What did the process involve? Challenges encountered and how these were addressed?
- How have they assessed demand and supply? How have they made projections? Conducted cost benefit analyses?
- How did they consider the information needs of different audiences?
- How they have tendered/procured care and support?
Sources of information and resources
Development standards and guides
- SCIE’s principles of excellence in housing.
- Lifetime homes standards.
- HAPPI principles (meeting the needs of older adults).
- BREEM new construction standards (best practice in sustainable building design, construction and operation).
- Accessible homes standards,
- Guide to accessible homes by the Centre for Ageing Better.
- Creating age-friendly developments guide.
- Age-friendly communities framework developed by the World Health Organisation.
Inclusive design
- People with dementia – dementia friendly health and social care environments, designing homes for cognitive ageing, housing for people with dementia – are we ready?
- Autistic people and/or people with learning disabilities – building the right home, the Reach standards, the supported housing national statement of expectations and resources for improving housing choice and supply.
- LGBTQ+ groups – Our voices: LGBT+ later life housing demand in London; Housing, Ageing + Care: What Manchester’s LGBT communities want from the UK’s first purpose-built LGBT extra care scheme; Community Engagement for Design
- People from ethnic minority backgrounds – Housing and the older ethnic minority population in England and Diversity Matters.
- People with visual or hearing impairments – A safe deaf place and sight loss, home and the built environment.
Partners to involve
- Local authority staff from social care, housing, planning, public health, regeneration, estates and finance.
- Local representative groups, charities and community groups.
- Commissioners from other local authorities who have developed housing with care and support business plans.
- Integrated Care Boards, Health and Wellbeing Boards and commissioners of health and social care.
Co-production
The ‘I’ and ‘We’ statements below are illustrative examples of co-production outcomes associated with this step. We encourage housing partnerships to adapt them as they see fit to best reflect their local context.
For individuals:
- I have the opportunity to learn about best practice in relation to different types of housing options, design and support.
- I say what is important to me in terms of the quality and characteristics of the types of housing options that best suit my needs.
- I decide which examples of housing developments should be considered best practice, based on my needs.
For the partnership:
- We facilitate individuals’ understanding of standards, guidelines and best practice with respect to different types of housing options, broadly and with respect to specific groups.
- We take on board individuals’ decisions and use the chosen best practice examples to shape the business case.
Case study
Hertfordshire – Extra Care design standards
Hertfordshire developed a bespoke set of design standards for their Extra Care business plan. These were shaped by National standards, good practice and excellent schemes in other areas, and reviewed by Pozzoni Architects, who have extensive experience of designing extra care and retirement housing, to ensure they are practicable, sensible, and reasonable. The level of detail provided by these standards demonstrates that the council has clarity and commitment to what they expect from developments.
The design standards consist broadly of two sets of criteria:
1. Design guidance detailing essential accommodation in homes, communal spaces, and for staff, accommodation hierarchy and spatial arrangements.
2. Minimum sizes guidance including to site size guidance and features, location, arrangement and subsequent accommodation requirements.
Detailed specifications are provided for these sets of criteria accompanied by illustrative sketches. Design expectations include requirements for developments to meet a number of desired outcomes for residents:
- Be energy, light and sound efficient – to maximise natural light, reduce energy consumption, and retain warmth.
- Have suitable space standards and ensure that outdoor space is an integral part of any design.
- Include a range of communal spaces to facilitate different activities.
- Be designed such that care can be easily and efficiently delivered.
- Be dementia friendly.
- Be built to ‘Housing our Ageing Population; Panel for Innovation’ (HAPPI) standards, with enhanced features to help with mobility, connectivity and independence.
- Be technology-enabled where possible – to allow for future advances.
- Be adaptable to allow changes to be made to meet individual needs.
- Be built with the local community in mind, reflecting cultural diversity and local features.
Access Hertfordshire’s full extra care housing business case for more information.