Jestico & Whiles plans for old age

Darwin Court, a Peabody Trust housing development by Jestico & Whiles opens this week, the culmination of a six-year project.

The £8.5m development, located in London’s Southwark and constructed with the so-called ‘Third Age’ in mind, is designed to offer 50-year-old-plus residents an alternative to ‘grey ghettos’.

According to Jestico & Whiles associate Eoin Keating, the brief, worth almost £300 000 in fees to the group, was to avoid the trappings of care home environments.

The development also includes the provision of on-site IT training suites, swimming pools and fitness rooms. Health centre and on-site care facilities cater for ageing residents’ changing needs.

‘People are living longer and many won’t have sufficient pensions to support themselves,’ says PT director of development and planning Dickon Robinson.