September 2010
Representatives from the Halcrow Foundation were delighted to attend the official launch of the Craigton Supported Living Development in Glasgow.
This development consisting of twelve accommodation units will benefit people who have a wide range of complex disabilities including; sensory impairment including deafblindness, communication support needs, physical disability, learning disability, behaviour which challenges services or healthcare support needs.
The development itself is funded by Southside Housing Association who will be landlords for the development. The organisation, Sense Scotland has worked with this housing association over a number of years and has advised on the design for Craigton.
Sense Scotland has been working with children and adults who have communication support needs because of deafblindness, sensory impairment, learning or physical disability since the mid 1980’s. Many children, adults, families and carers across the country, benefit from our wide-ranging support and services.
The Halcrow Foundation was approached when the project needed funding for the furnishing of the twelve flats.
The foundation’s representative Jet Cameron said: “As they will be moving either from Sense Scotland’s care home or from their family homes, they don’t own any furniture or furnishings. As individuals they have never had the opportunity to build up the kind of home furnishings that would stand them in good stead to move house. The Halcrow Foundation is delighted to be able to help a project like this and it’s great to see the furniture in place”.
This project will benefit 18 people and is designed to; maximise independence, make possible shared waking night staff, incorporates a staff base to afford service users privacy while staff are also “on the spot” for speedy responses although much of the time staff will be physically present in each flat, take account of the broad range of disabilities and incorporate a very high specification to meet these needs and offer economies of scale due to careful design and a shared site for the individual units of living accommodation.
Gillian Morbey, Chief Executive of Sense Scotland said: “the Foundation's generous donation of furniture and furnishings in these fantastic new flats, is hugely appreciated by the new tenants. Sense Scotland have been supporting disabled people through transitions to live in their own homes for many years. We understand how important it is for people to establish their own identity in their own space. On behalf of the new tenants, who are already enjoying their newly furnished flats, I’d like to thank the Halcrow Foundation for their wonderful contribution.”