Windlesham Care Home, Surrey
The landscape Masterplan at Windlesham has been designed to create spaces that complement the building architecture with varying characters and themes to provide a sense of place with an external environment which accommodates hard and soft materials addressing the needs and well-being of residents. From the north of the site the landscape starts formally with open courtyard spaces matching the aesthetics of the surrounding architecture before gradually becoming less formal and naturalised towards the south of the site and the open countryside beyond.
Sergison Bates created an architectural scheme that provided each household with public and private terraces. The public terrace acts as a veranda to allow residents to watch the comings and goings of people across the site whilst the private terrace provides more privacy for the residents should they need it. Block D private terraces that open out onto private gardens with views beyond into the wider open landscape. These private gardens allow for limited social interaction between the households of Block D whilst still retaining an element of privacy.
The outer landscaped area to the south provides space for residents to go on accompanied walks with staff and family with a playground for child visitors to enjoy as well. A planted swale has been incorporated into this part of the site as both a feature and important SUDs drainage element for the scheme. The access to all buildings and around the site generally has been designed to be step free and Part M compliant with level thresholds to allow the passage of wheelchairs through all external doorways. The Masterplan has included a variety of new trees to be planted around the site from ornamental pleached canopy trees, native species reinforcing existing tree lines, and fruit trees to create a new orchard for the benefit of household and main kitchens.