Putting The Edge in Edgewater

Metlifecare’s Pakuranga village Edgewater is set on four flat acres of idyllic botanic gardens, creating a peaceful and relaxed retirement haven.

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DYLAN PELL Senior Development Manager he original structure was built in the 80s, and after 40 years, it needed a refresh, both structurally and design-wise. “The aged care industry has moved on a lot since the original building was built. The former care home which dominated most of the site was no longer fit for purpose,” said senior development manager Dylan Pell.

It was full of old rooms, some with shared bathrooms, which was the old style of care home design, but it’s less suitable for modern aged care.

“The building was really tired and in need of major capital work and refurbishment to bring it up to a modern standard.

“So, we decided to demolish the care home, and build a new, modern, beautifully designed one for the village.”

Care homes are partially subsidised by the government and many are built to the minimum government standard because that’s all the subsidy covers, said Pell, but Metlifecare builds higherquality facilities.

“We design and build aged care suites - that is a room with a private ensuite and in some cases a separate lounge and kitchenette.

“This allows residents to have people over, eat in their room, put up their own art - they make it their own space. It’s important it feels like their own home. We focus on creating modern care home spaces that are a great experience for people to visit,” Pell explained.

The redevelopment of Edgewater began in November 2019 and was due to take just under two years, but the lockdown caused delays by shutting down sites and disrupting the supply chain and labour.

“We’ve been hit by two separate level four lockdowns and the last few months of the project have been affected by supply chain delays, forcing us to rethink our material sourcing.”

While the exterior is getting more than a fresh coat of paint, the internal network is also getting a serious upgrade.

“The biggest change in this facility is the technology.

“In addition to the traditional phone and internet connectivity provided, Metlifecare has its own future-proofed fibreoptic network throughout the building, providing residents additional services and features like wearable devices and access control.

“For example, we can provide technology to sense movement in the care home. So, if someone is home but hasn’t moved for a long time or is getting out of bed at night - which has an increased fall risk - we get a notification and can assist them if needed.”

Metlifecare has emergency call systems in all its apartments, but they are manually operated. So if someone falls in the lounge, they might not be able to push the emergency call button on the wall.

Wearable devices such as the emergency call button on a pendant exist, but with Metlifecare’s network, they are able to install voice-activated or

motion-sensing emergency call systems.

“Residents might not like wearing the emergency call button on a pendant. Now, we can provide smartwatches that can interface with our emergency call system.”

The network extends to staff as well.

“The staff all work on wireless devices instead of paper now. It’s about future-proofing for IoT devices that don’t even exist yet.”

The redevelopment is adding new amenities to the village as well, including a community centre, new library and games room, gymnasium, swimming and spa pool, hairdressing salon and doctor’s rooms.

“The original village didn’t have many of those spaces available and we found they’re very popular.”

The residents of Edgewater village asked for these amenities and Pell said their views were “integral” to the design and development. “They’re a pretty sociable bunch and made use of the bar they had, so we gave that a really good refresh and added a cafe/dining service.

“This was an existing village. When you build a new village from scratch, you can work out what your customers want, but when you’re redeveloping you are redeveloping someone’s home. That’s why our residents had so much involvement in what they wanted.”

Edgewater’s new development is due to open in February 2022.

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