'Smart' home of the future will make life easier for disabled people

It’s a work in development at the moment, but if all goes well, Blackwood, a Scottish innovative housing and care provider, plans to launch a state-of-the-art home for people with disabilities in Dundee next year.

The company has a long and distinguished history when it comes to providing homes for the elderly, disabled and those living with sensory impairments.

It currently has about 1,600 homes that can be rented across Scotland and three care homes. As its strategic development director, Simon Fitzpatrick, says: “We’ve been helping people live their lives to the full for 30 to 40 years, which is long before the integration of health and social care became such a buzzword. “

Innovation in action

The state-of-the-art home will be packed with cutting-edge innovations and designs that are aimed at making everyday life easier for disabled people, including a washing machine called the Brompton Washscape that washes, dries and irons clothes, kitchen appliances and worktops that rise and fall at the touch of a button, and an oven door that folds inwards, thereby becoming more easily accessible for a wheelchair user.

Mr Fitzpatrick says: “The most popular are the rise and fall kitchens where the sink and cooking facilities will rise and fall for wheelchair users. They are excellent because other able-bodied members of the family can also adjust them to their height – so the whole family can be included.”

The bathroom is augmented by the Pressalit Bathroom System which has invaluable electronically movable shower seats, hand basins and toilets that aim to provide maximum accessibility.

Usefully, all the new equipment has been developed with the assistance of the people it is intended for.

Fanchea Kelly, chief executive at Blackwood, says: “All the inventions are tested by residents at Blackwood who give valuable feedback on how the designs can be improved, which helps ensure that they are as effective as possible and that there is a constant challenge to evolve and improve.

“Our customers are at the heart of everything we do and we believe technology can be a powerful catalyst for innovation and design in the independent living sector. And as important as the technology is that the home should look good. For us it must be beautiful and far away from the kind of medical or institutional that such homes tended to have in the past.”

Control at a touch

Centre stage at the home is Blackwood’s smart technology care project – known as Clever Cogs – a state-of-the-art system of connected touch screen devices that can be used to control almost everything in the house from opening and closing curtains, to switching on a TV, ordering shopping or even planning care and support with family and friends.

Mr Fitzpatrick says: “My great passion is for the automation of day-to-day tasks – and I’m particularly keen on Clever Cogs – which you tap to automate things. I’m looking forward to the day when such a piece of equipment can be linked to the doctor’s surgery and people with mobility problems can have their appointment there and then.”

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