Evaluating existing evidence about home adaptations & supportive home design.
About the project
The DesHCA Project is interested in learning about the challenges and benefits of supportive home design from every angle.
DesHCA is large ESRC funded project that aims to explore the issues around supportive home design and adaptations from many different perspectives. Our research, which will run until the spring of 2024, will involve asking for input from older people at every stage of the process: from learning about what older people need and want in their homes today, to asking about what they hope houses might look like in the future.
Our work with older people will run alongside research activities that focus on capturing the expertise and experience of builders, architects, and others in the construction industry, as well as professionals working in health and social care and local government to explore the practical factors that influence the design of new houses that support healthy cognitive ageing, and the adaptation of existing homes.
The data we collect from older people and professionals will sit alongside information drawn from large, well-established databases to help us understand the issues around supportive design and adaptation on a national and international level.
Click the sections for each Work Package below to learn more about our methods and how we plan to meet DesHCA’s goals.
Explore our work packages
Exploring how older people use their space & what their homes mean to them.
Investigating the process designing, constructing, and adapting houses to support healthy cognitive ageing.
Creating a Serious Game to Support Discussions about Cognitively Supportive Home Design.
Presenting DesHCA’s Findings, Designs, Recommendations, and Tools to a Wider Audience
Involving Others in Conducting Research and Sharing Findings.