Bournville Gardens Village – Finalist in 2016 Top 60 Developments

Bournville Gardens Village has been named as a finalist in the ‘Older People’s Development of the Year’ category for the Top 60 Developments, a national housing award run by Inside Housing magazine.

The Top 60 Developments celebrate success and innovation in delivering new homes. Bournville Gardens Village will now compete with five other developments in the older people’s category and the winner will be announced on October 14th 2016 at the Lancaster London Hotel.

Since opening in autumn 2015, the Village has a become a ‘social hub’, actively welcoming inter-generational community involvement. Significant work has also been undertaken to ensure the health and well-being of residents and their long-term quality of life. This work is endorsed through ExtraCare’s research with Aston University which found that residents at the Village lead happier, healthier lives at a lower cost to the public purse.

In December 2015, ITV’s ‘Tonight’ programme covered the Village for its feature on tackling isolation. Speaking about the research, Dr Carol Holland, head of the Aston Research Centre for Healthy Ageing , said: “GP visits were almost halved which is phenomenal so we are looking at prevention of dementia, prevention of loneliness, prevention of frailty and all of those have an impact on NHS costs. If you can prevent poor quality of life that’s absolutely most important in the end.”

During the programme Bournville Gardens Resident, Margery Crampton, told her story about a journey from isolation and depression, when her disabled husband died, to a happier life as a resident at the Village where she volunteers.

She said: “The old Margery’s come back. I lost myself, but I’m back – back to stay.”

For more information about Bournville Gardens Retirement Village.