The Chocolate Works Care Village

NORR for Springfield Healthcare Group, York 

The £10 million transformation of the grade II listed Chocolate Works HQ building creates a stimulating village to provide care for people with dementia while maintaining residents’ previous lifestyles in a meaningful way.

The design offers optimum wayfinding, orientation, safety and quality of life for residents, in a familiar and homely environment among friends in a village-like community.

A restored glazed atrium is the heart of the scheme. Its large volume could have been intimidating for dementia sufferers, so great consideration went into how the space could be manipulated and best used, without detracting from its grandeur.

Importantly this has good natural light and studies show that cognitive deterioration is slowed with regular exposure to bright light while symptoms of depression are decreased, which is very important for anyone with Alzheimer’s. 

A mezzanine floor has reduced the overall volume while allowing two floors of residents’ direct access to enjoy the space. Beneath the mezzanine a row of shops fronts the atrium, creating a market square. Residents can freely visit the shops, each with an allocated use: hair salon, coffee shop, chocolate shop etc.

Open days and work with schools has been part of the community outreach and the ‘Friends of the Chocolate Works’ volunteer group has been set up in response to kind outpourings by the people of York. 

Back to the MacEwen longlist.