Hallmark Care Homes has opened a £12m facility near Brentwood in Essex using technology for a virtual event understood to be a first for the care sector during current Covid restrictions.
The live stream at Hutton View was made with support from an external specialist broadcast company and hosted by Hallmark chairman and chief executive of Savista Developments Avnish Goyal.
During the event, guests were invited to hear about the vision of the how the home was created, participate in a panel discussion with Hallmark’s dementia and relationship centred care experts and take a virtual tour of the 77-bed home’s facilities.
The facilities include a hair salon, therapy room, café, aquarium, bar, cinema with surround sound and starlight ceiling, as well as a music room with baby grand piano and other instruments.
Other design innovations include an indoor, COVID-safe visiting area with glass partition, library and games room, a top floor activities room with a second bar and large outdoor terrace.
The home also boasts a farmhouse kitchen and further activity area with prompts that use the Montessori approach to support people living with dementia.
In addition, there are numerous outdoor areas which encourage residents to get fresh air all year round and support the company’s Together Dementia Strategy. These include five outdoor terraces on all the upper floors.
The landscaped gardens at Hutton View include a putting green, aviary, summer house with a kitchen and WC, greenhouse and gardening club area, and gazebo.
Around 300 local businesses and care professionals logged on to hear from Goyal and Hallmark’s managing director Ram Goyal, and witness the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
During the event guests were also encouraged to tweet in their questions, thoughts and comments with £5 donated to Hutton Community Centre for every tweet received using the hashtag #HuttonViewLaunch.
Hallmark then raised this to £5,000 to support the community centre’s plans to refurbish the kitchen and social areas by spring 2021.
“We are delighted to have completed our second Savista project to the highest standards, incorporating the latest technology and ideas not only from the sector but from our teams and our recent innovation challenge,” said Avnish Goyal.
“Hutton View provides inventive solutions to care and a lot of consideration has gone into this home to ensure we are meeting the ever-changing needs of future residents,” he added.
