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Home of theFuture
Briefing Paper 
Guy Kasier 
E&D SystemsJuly 2009
WelHops
Housing for the elderly - a guide to best practice
Source illustration: Welhops
 
Home of the Future
2www.leonardo-energy.org
1. Introduction
A WelHops study some years ago assessed the needs of the elderly regarding thebuildings and surroundings in which they wish to live. Still as relevant today as it waswhen it was carried out, this study ran from May 2005 to September 2007 as part of aEuropean INTERREG IIIC project. Taking part were partners from Italy, Sweden, theUK, Spain, and Hungary.The project objectives were to:
Develop a set of recommendations for the planning of a wide range of livingaccommodation for the elderly.
Create an Internet portal containing analyses, reports and accepted bestpractices.
Set up a network of experts.
By applying the above ensure the provision of optimal accommodationsolutions for the elderly who want to keep on living independently at homefor longer.The first step was to categorise the available housing units for the aged found in thepartner countries and in Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. Thesewere then analysed and all the items were evaluated to be ranked on a scale of 
―good‖ to ―worse‖. The recommendations for building new housing for the elderly and
for the renovation of existing housing extracted from this assessment were laid downas guidelines and tested in practice in three pilot projects.The results showed that the elderly are able to live independently, at home for longer;this can give them a higher quality of life and sense of well-being; it can alsosignificantly decrease the sense of being institutionalised and over-dependent. Anumber of additional factors were noted
 –
people felt that their particular needs werebeing addressed and this made them feel more independent and better aboutthemselves; greater exchange in the neighbourhood meant that loneliness was lessof an issue.
This project’s main report has become a practical and useful guide that includes
many recommendations on how to successfully draw up plans for new buildings or for renovating existing buildings for the aged. It comes in four parts:Section A: The homeSection B: The building in addition to the homeSection C: Spaces pertaining to the outside of the buildingSection D: Urban contextThis article focuses the recommendations regarding electrical installations and sometechnical innovations. Throughout, any thoughts and comments about the report aredifferentiated by being highlighted.
 
Housing for the elderly
—
a guide to best practice
3www.leonardo- 
2. The home
Figure 1:Several examples of the interior layout of the housing unit. (Illustration source: WelHops)
In this section some 19 groups of recommendations are covered ranging fromhousehold security, to comfort, to keeping the place clean and keeping in touch withthe outside world.
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