The partnership is being led by visiting University of Bath professor Malcolm Jonson, who was featured in Channel 4’s BAFTA-winning series Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds.
Guild Living, which is working on its first three schemes in Bath, Epsom and Walton-on-Thames, said the research will focus on tackling loneliness in older people. It said it intended to use the findings to influence decisions around architectural design, technology, wellbeing and care across its pipeline.
The first project by the research partership will explore the causes and impact of emotional loneliness in older people living in Australia or Britain. The partnership said it will gather qualitative data from individuals already in later living communities.
“As a youth-oriented society, we need to recognise that people are living longer and, consequentially, “old age” is happening much later. The dominant feature of old age care is looking after people’s health and safety, yet all too often, people are being left in their own homes and on their own, with minimal human contact,” said Johnson.
“This risks physical, emotional and cognitive decline. Our research will investigate what interventions we can make to reinstate people’s confidence, tackle one of the biggest killers, loneliness, and shift our culture towards valuing – rather than ostracising – people in their older years.”
Guild Living founder Eugene Marchese added: “Britain has an opportunity to embrace radical change – not just in housing or care – but how we treat older people. Guild Living’s academic approach to design, development, operations and care is motivated by a fundamental commitment to drive forward change in how we live in later years, driving by robust research.
“Our partner, Legal & General, shares this vision, and has the capital and long-term commitment to revolutionise the way we age. University of Bath is one of the premier institutions in ageing research and is the perfect partner for us as we begin our journey to tackle ageism across the spectrum.
Source: Residential - propertyweek.com
