A £16m neighbourhood hub designed to provide leisure, health and cultural services in Great Sankey, Warrington, UK, has been given the green light by planning officials.

Local government organisation, Warrington Borough unanimously agreed to approve operator LiveWire’s proposal to transform the existing Great Sankey Leisure Centre into a multi-purpose community hub.

The new building will feature a wide range of leisure facilities to provide residents with a one-stop-shop for all their leisure, cultural and health and wellbeing needs. It will also be designed to be dementia-friendly.

A LiveWire spokesperson told CLAD the site will feature swimming pools, a sports hall, tennis courts, a 3G pitch, GP surgeries, a library, a cafe, a 120-station gym and wellbeing facilities including a spa.

Construction on the first stage of the development will start later this year, with phase one of the project set to open in Q3 2016. Mpulse are providing strategic project and programme management support to Livewire for the project, while Walker Simpson Architects are behind the designs.

“This new neighbourhood hub will make a real difference to the lives of people in west Warrington by allowing them to access leisure, health and cultural services all under one roof,” said Jan Souness, managing director at LiveWire, which is a Community Interest Company (CIC).

“It was important to make this LiveWire’s first dementia-friendly facility to cater for a growing and older population in the area.”

Locklynne Hall, LiveWire’s innovation and leadership manager, explains what that means: “The person with dementia has difficulty remembering things, so you can’t rely on them building up a familiarity with where things are – you need appropriate signage. Their more recent memories are lost first, so if your toilet signs are a variation on the stick man that became common in the 60s, it might be meaningless to someone whose memory stops before then.

“You need appropriate fittings too, because the person with dementia also has difficulty working things out. They may not understand how to use clinical-style taps and mixer faucets in toilets. Unfamiliar plumbing will cause delays and confusion that could lead to incontinence and distress.

“You also need a well thought-out colour and décor scheme. If someone has developed problems with depth perception and visual processing, a pattern on the floor may appear to be a trip hazard: this momentary confusion can cause them to stumble and fall.”

LiveWirem will train its staff – and members of the local community – to understand the condition. It’s piloting a number of programmes including early onset dementia groups, for example, offering healthy walking classes and tai chi. “We’re also developing a ‘lessen your chances’ programme of activities,” adds Hall.

It will be LiveWire’s first dementia-friendly facility.

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