Claybourne, along with Mayfields in Ellesmere Port, was the first Dementia Care Home purpose-built to MHA’s design. It was planned and developed as part of MHA’s Jubilee Celebrations in 1997 and opened by HRH The Prince of Wales. Its single-storey design was based upon research current at the time and upon MHA’s experience of caring for older people with dementia. Three wings, or “groups”, are each home to 15 residents. Each group contains residents’ rooms, a living/dining room, assisted bathrooms and ancillary features so that, with the exception of main cooking and laundry facilities, the unit is ‘self contained’. Each of the group lounges opens onto a patio area, which in turn allows access to the large secure gardens with paths, garden seating and a purpose-built sensory garden. It was important that the layout should make sense to residents and allow easy access and circulation but without long, straight corridors. Doors, fittings and fixtures were chosen to reinforce a sense of “home” but at the same time residents are allowed maximum visibility to aid orientation. Fundamental to the design is a large central communal area which links the groups and provides space in which residents can walk, sit or engage in other activities. Here, too, residents can meet for services or larger functions. The hairdressing room opens off this central area.