St. John’s House nominated for Best Healthy Homes award

Due to open later this year, St. John’s House, a newly redeveloped service run by Sanctuary Supported Living, has been shortlisted n the ‘Best Healthy Homes Development’ category for the 2024 Inside Housing Development Awards. The new service promises to provide a fully accessible home for residents, many of whom are dependent wheelchair users. The hope is that this will  enable them to live as independently as possible.

Following an investment of almost £4million pounds by the Worcester based Housing Association, the previous care home building was remodelled into 14 modern self-contained flats, with additional communal areas and built-in assistive technology. 

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Established in 1969, Sanctuary is responsible for the provision of social housing, care and management services across England and Scotland. It owns or operates around 125,000 units of accommodation, housing around a quarter of a million people and employs around 14,000 people. Sanctuary have also been shortlisted across another four categories including ‘Best Shared Ownership Development’ and ‘Best Affordable Housing Development’.  

The Inside Housing award winners will be announced at a ceremony on Friday 27 September in London.

Housing associations first appeared in the second half of the nineteenth century as part of the growth in philanthropic and voluntary organisations. They increased in importance over the last decades of the twentieth century due to changes to council housing, when rules were introduced that prevented councils subsidising their housing from local taxes. This culminated in grants for construction of new social housing being channelled to housing associations. By 2003 36.5% of all the social rented housing stock was held by housing associations.

Sanctuary Supported Living’s Director, Dave Shaw, said: “Being named a finalist in the ‘Best Healthy Homes’ category is a testament to our commitment to enhancing well-being through design. We are thrilled to be acknowledged for our efforts in developing homes that benefit the physical and mental health of the people who live with us, and give them the opportunity to live more independent lives.”

As well as services for people with physical disabilities, Sanctuary Supported Living also provides accommodation with personalised support for people with learning disabilities, mental health needs, homeless young people and adults, as well as retirement communities for people over 55 or with long-term care needs.