Awards resume their role of driving care home improvement

[THE AWARDS EVENT that has helped to shape the huge improvement in care facilities since it was launched in 1991 is the Pinders Healthcare Design Awards.

The 2020 Awards event was the last outing before lockdown and therefore the 2022 event heralded the return to normality with a packed crowd eager to catch up and have fun.

The appropriate theme of the day was ‘Friends Reunited’ and the show opened with a moving montage of pictures celebrating friendships and remembering those absent from the day.

Magician and comedian Pete Firman was in sparkling form again as he entertained the capacity audience before host Jon Chapman took over with the awards and his now-famous quiz. That was won by John Storey of Porthaven, who generously donated his £500 prize to The Ambulance Staff Charity, who were the beneficiaries of the event.

Their trustee and former paramedic Carl Ledbury spoke about the physical and mental challenges faced by ambulance staff during the pandemic and then presented the winners with their trophies.

As well as The Ambulance Staff Charity, other good causes across the UK, including The Care Workers’ Charity and Alzheimer’s Society, benefited with more than £25,000 donated.

Explaining the various categories, Pinders said: “We appreciate that it takes a large team to create a winning project, involving the owners, architects, contractors and specialist designers of interiors, lighting and gardens, and judging will focus on these different aspects, rather than just the overall package.” The categories in question were: Best Interior Design, Best Exterior Space, Innovation & Environmental, Best Architectural Design, Best Regeneration Project and Best Independent Living Scheme.

One of the winners was Upton Mill in Tetbury, in the Best Interior Design category. Kerry Southern-Reason, managing director at The Care Home Interiors Co, who were responsible for the interior design, said: “I am utterly speechless! We are overjoyed Upton Mill won this very prestigious award. I am so incredibly proud – especially given the high standard of the competition we were up against. I would like to say a special ‘thank you’ to our brilliant design and manufacturing team of skilled craftsmen and ladies who constantly go above and beyond to make the impossible possible. Well done! We’ve only gone and done it again: two years in a row winners.”

The 2023 Awards will take place on 15 March and entries need to be submitted before 30 November. q