The Uniting Care Ageing facility at Wallsend is a 108 bed high care / low care facility specifically constructed to accommodate residents from two older facilities located elsewhere in Newcastle.
Situated on a sloping site with a semi-rural outlook, the building has a resort-style feel and is designed around two internal courtyards, each landscaped in a different theme to provide a variety of settings. The sloping site enabled the two-storey design to have ground access for both levels. High care rooms are located on the upper level and low care and dementia-specific care is provided on the lower level which opens out onto a large dementia care courtyard. A major design constraint of the project was the level of noise generated from Lake Road, a major arterial road.
To overcome this, the building was designed so that non-residential facilities were located towards the street, providing a buffer to the residential facilities behind. This not only reduced noise levels for the residents, it also maximised the bushland views and solar access.
