Imagine living in your home or retirement village for 10 years – then an unexpected illness or fall that lands you in hospital. For many of us, this would often mean making the move into residential aged care.
But what if you could simply adapt your home for higher care? That’s why Australian architecture firm ThomsonAdsett are pushing for a review of the Federal Building Code of Australia (BCA).
The BCA regulates how developers can build – and it hasn’t changed much since 2003. But today’s village and aged care developers and future retirees want more flexibility in their homes.
Room to move – and adapt
ThomsonAdsett cites clients who wanted to build retirement apartments adaptable up to in-home high care.
However the 15-year-old BCA regulations around fire would inflate the development costs too much.
For example, the apartments would need an auto-closing door, costing an extra $7,000, while the landings and corridors on each floor would need to be wider.
ThomsonAdsett already drove the introduction of these changes in Singapore and Hong Kong during the 90s. The result? They have some of the most innovative mixed communities in the world.
Studies tell us that retirement villages can help you live independently for an average of five years longer than in the community – imagine what they could do if we really could ‘age in place’?
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With the trend of the aging population, the construction industry also considers the elderly