Commercial work inside a building people already live in.

We treat aged care as a commercial sector, not a residential one. The work is refurbishment and upgrade of operating facilities: communal and dining areas, clinical and care spaces, back of house, and the compliance works an audit or an insurer asks for. We do not take residential aged care new build.

So the planning question is not how fast the work can be done. It is how few residents have to experience it, for how short a time, and how completely their day can be left alone.

• Decant planned with the care teamWhich rooms empty, in what order, and where those residents go. This is a clinical decision made by the provider; our job is to build a programme that fits it rather than the reverse.
• Wings, not floorsWork is contained to the smallest possible area, with a hard boundary and a route that no resident needs to use.
• Wayfinding kept intactChanged routes are disorienting for residents living with dementia. Where a route must change, it changes once, with clear signage, and the care team is briefed before it happens.
• Noise scheduled around the dayQuiet during rest periods and meals. High-noise activity in agreed windows, communicated in advance to staff, residents and families.
• Dust and air handled as a health matterSealed separation and filtration, at a standard closer to a health facility than to a commercial site.
• Continuous fire and nurse call coverageDetection, sprinklers, nurse call and emergency lighting stay live. Any impairment is planned, time-bounded, notified and made good the same shift.
• Screened, briefed, consistent peopleThe same faces on site week to week, briefed on how to interact with residents. Familiarity is a genuine control in this setting.

Communal, dining and lounge

The rooms residents use most, and therefore the ones with the shortest tolerable closure window. Usually staged with a temporary alternative provided.

Room and bathroom upgrades

Refurbishment of existing rooms and ensuites within an operating facility: finishes, door hardware, lighting and nurse call, delivered wing by wing to a decant plan.

Memory support and dementia-specific areas

Contrast, lighting levels, acoustics, secure outdoor access and finishes selected for legibility rather than fashion. Design decisions here have a clinical purpose.

Care and clinical spaces

Treatment rooms, medication rooms, staff stations and back of house, with the services and finishes those functions require.

Compliance upgrades

Fire safety, accessibility and essential services works, often driven by an audit or an insurer, and usually needing to be done without emptying the building.

Front of house and administration

Reception, family and visitor areas, meeting rooms and administration. The commercial fitout half of an aged care facility, and the part a prospective family sees first.