The competition was launched last year with all 50 services taking part receiving a budget of £1,000 with an open design brief giving them the opportunity to spend the funds on anything from soft furnishings and murals, to sensory room equipment and interaction based tools.
Gareth Williams, CEO of Cygnet Social Care, said: “We wanted this to be seen as an opportunity for staff and residents to work together on a fun and engaging activity and to take pleasure in being creative with the space they share. Our services are residents’ homes and we want residents to put their own personal signature on their homes.”
He added: “I have been genuinely thrilled by the effort everyone has gone to in embracing this challenge. The creativity and vision the teams have shown has been truly inspirational.
“It’s been a real joy to go through all of the entries, photos, and presentations. It was almost impossible to choose our winners, and I really hope everyone who took part enjoyed the experience as much as I and the Operations Directors enjoyed looking at all the entries.”
The overall winner was Beacon House, our residential service in Bradford which supports individuals with learning disabilities, complex needs and behaviours that may challenge. The team at Beacon House got together with the residents and asked them what they would like to do for the competition. The residents decided on an ‘Under The Sea’ sensory room to uplift the annex and make the area person centred to their own interests as a number of the residents often visit Sea Life in Blackpool or The Deep in Hull.
Describing how work went on creating the new room Jeff Firth, Beacon House’s Service Manager, said: “Once the theme was decided the hard work began with the maintenance team preparing the annex for its interior makeover. The residents were involved each step of the way, including helping to paint the room. As an extra sensory feature that residents could interact with, the team obtained ship wheels and Antony from the maintenance team got on with working out how we could make them turn.”
Upon finding out that Beacon House had been chosen as the overall competition winner, Jeff said: “This is a huge achievement, especially when considering the high standard of entries. The team and residents of Beacon House are elated. As the registered manager I couldn’t be prouder of the hard work our maintenance team, the residents and wider staff team put into making this project happen.”
“However, for me the biggest prize was seeing how a person-centred environment such as our new ‘Under the Sea’ sensory area honours our residents’ identity, whilst supporting their quality of life, and well-being”.
Pictures of the transformation of the Beacon House annex into the Under the Sea sensory room can be seen on the gallery below.
In addition to the overall winner there were also nine regional prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. The regional winners were as follows:
South Region
1st – Fairways
2nd – Devon Lodge
3rd – Oakhurst Lodge
Beatrice Nyamande, Operations Director for the South Region, said: “The decision for the winning team was a hard one to make, but I am pleased to announce that Fairways came out on top. There was a lot of creative thinking and input from the service users in the design of this room. The transformation of the winning lounge at Fairways has turned it into a very therapeutic space. Well done Fairways.”
Midlands & Scotland Region
1st – Long Eaton Day Services
2nd – Lindsay House
3rd – Willow House
Barney Cunningham, Operations Director for the Midlands & Scotland Region, said: “All the services engaged in the competition and have really enjoyed the process. All the entries were inventive and of a high standard and have improved the environments.
“At Long Eaton Day Services there is no outdoor space for the people who attend it, so the idea of bringing the outdoors inside was a creative idea which everyone appreciated”
North Region
1st – Beacon House
2nd – Sheffield Day Services
3rd – Longfield House
Joanne Morris, Operations Director for the North Region, said: “The transformation made to these rooms across of all of the homes is remarkable. A lot of thought has gone into making these rooms personal to the people they support and all of these works will benefit everyone in the years to come.
“Beacon was the overall regional winner and what made it unique was the story that stood behind it and the involvement from those who live there.”
Well done again to Beacon House and all our regional winners and thank you to all of the services who took part and who have made this competition such a great success.