ExtraCare Wins UKHA 2017 Outstanding Development Award

Picture: ExtraCare Resident Millicent Gobbinsingh picked up the award for the Charity on April 26th 2017: “We’re sharing our experiences and aspirations to inform people considering life in future villages.”

The ExtraCare Charitable Trust has won the UK Housing Awards Outstanding Development Programme of the Year. The awards are hosted by Inside Housing magazine and the Chartered Institute of Housing.

The award comes as ExtraCare, a registered charity, opens Longbridge Village in Birmingham this summer, the fifth of five new villages across the City. A further three villages are under construction in High Wycombe, Stoke Gifford (Bristol) and Bedford.

As well as providing homes with health and leisure facilities for over 4,400 older people across the Midlands and North, ExtraCare’s village communities integrate care and lifestyle services into a pioneering development model, providing residents with the opportunity to live happier and healthier lives.

Key features of the award submission included:

• Proactive health and well-being services which, according to independent research from Aston University (2015), reduce annual NHS costs by 38 per cent per resident, lower social care costs by 26 per cent, cut GP visits by 46 per cent and unplanned hospital stays from 8-14 to 1-2 days. This means better lives for residents and less dependence on public services.
• An extensive volunteering programme which reduces the costs of residents’ services and provides opportunities for residents to use their skills.
• External community membership of village facilities at an affordable cost (such as the gym), which brings in extra income and intergenerational social opportunities within each community.
• The provision of ongoing, in-house benefits advice to support affordable living. ExtraCare found £2,416,500 in benefits on behalf of residents in 2015/16.

The award submission also made particular reference to residents’ involvement in the Charity’s development strategy. ExtraCare Resident Millicent Gobbinsingh who lives at Birmingham’s Pannel Croft Village, a partnership with Birmingham City Council, said: “ExtraCare builds communities but we shape and propagate them. We live well and independently here and, in return, we’re sharing our experiences and aspirations to inform people considering life in future villages.”

In 2016, the Charity won the Outstanding Approach to Innovation Award at UKHA for its pioneering Enriched Opportunities Programme which supports residents with dementia.

For more information please contact: Richard Tower, Communications Manager 0772 055 3658 richard.tower@extracare.org.uk