The Chocolate Quarter case study

The Chocolate Quarter - a Case Study

The Chocolate Quarter, originally the home of Fry’s chocolate factory in Bristol, now offers luxury retirement living in completely refurbished buildings that were officially opened in April 2018. In keeping with the vision of St Monica Trust’s purpose, the retirement village also includes a care home on site where an equal focus is placed on these two service elements. This multimillion-dollar development by Bristol-based charity St Monica Trust offers a luxury retirement community and nursing home service with a range of facilities open to the public to encourage intergenerational use and reduces isolation and loneliness of the elderly.

The development's building design allows people of all generations to come together to create a truly unique community atmosphere. Paying homage to the building’s historical community connection, village events and celebrations ensure The Chocolate Quarter maintains the focal point for the local community.

The Chocolate Quarter is home to 136 retirement apartments and a 93-bed care home (Charterhouse Care Home), as well as office spaces and retail outlets. Community facilities include an authentic pizzeria/restaurant, a spa, gym, swimming pool, cinema, craft studios for woodwork, pottery and art, hair salon, barbers and nail salon. The Charterhouse Care Home provides services across nursing and dementia care, respite and end of life care as well as a focus on rehabilitation and reablement.

Portfolio Growth and Renewal

St Monica Trust has been granted planning permission for an addition of 44 assisted living apartments to be built at The Chocolate Quarter. Construction commenced in 2024. These additional apartments will be made up of eighteen (18) one-bedroom affordable housing units and twenty-six (26) two-bedroom apartments with private balconies and access to all the existing amenities. This will increase the total number of retirement apartments to one hundred and eighty (180).

Consumer Focus

The consumer’s voices and vision for what aged care support services can look like has all been included in the building design. Hundreds of focus groups and information sessions enabled the flow of ideas by consumers. By way of example, there is an antique chandelier hanging in the main entrance of the building. Consumers wanted to have this luxury item as it was their collective perception about feeling valued. A swimming pool was also provided as the consumers perceived this would entice their grandchildren to visit as well as create an optic of luxury living. Furthermore, real plants were used throughout the building including a living moss wall. A band stand for music was included in the design which is also used by the UK Opera as part of their country tour program. There are dedicated art and craft spaces including a pottery kiln and workshop.

Design features within the apartments that occurred as a direct result from the consumer consultation include but not limited to;

• Design of the kitchen with oven door that folds under to prevent burns.

• Having a separate laundry room, not in the kitchen.

• The installation of ‘blue light’ in the bathrooms to reduce the anxiety for women who were uncomfortable with seeing veins when undressing. Blue lights are in all bathrooms as well as LED white lights which can also be used.

The CEO describes how well the apartment designs were received when The Chocolate Quarter opened the units for public inspection – with countless younger people wanting to buy an apartment given the design was very contemporary and did not look or feel like an aged care facility.

A new role has recently been established at The Chocolate Quarter titled, ‘customer support officer’ which is solely focused on the overall consumer experience in both the integrated retirement apartments and the nursing home. The integrated retirement community also have access to a quarterly e-newsletter called ‘The Village Voice’ that is consumer facing and provides details about activities across the organisation.

Workforce and Culture

There is significant focus on training for staff at The Chocolate Quarter in order to create consistency of practice. This extends into higher staff to consumer ratios with the CEO advising in some areas they have one (1) staff to every three (3) consumers which creates opportunity to improve the lived experience of every consumer and supports workforce culture. St Monica Trust has a training program that is offered to the wider health community and includes areas such as dementia awareness, emergency first aid, infection control, loss and bereavement and mentoring. This is another example of business diversification and income generation.

Care Model

The Chocolate Quarter offers all three service streams of independent living, nursing home and community care within a well-integrated care model. Should a consumer’s care need change, their expertise in care provision means a range of support is available and can be delivered to the consumer regardless of where they live within the complex. The Chocolate Quarter’s community integration model of care also has an Intergenerational approach. The location of the facility itself within the wider community enables school-based and community interactions on a regular basis as a range of facilities are open to the public, including a pizzeria, restaurant, health spa, cinema, hairdressers and nail bar. Whilst the success of the Chocolate Quarter in terms of its care model is obvious, the CEO offers caution by suggesting that one size does not fit all. Meaning it is essential that the building design, geographical footprint, movement of people and community connecting points must be taken into consideration in every building / community.

Existing Initiatives / Wellness Programs

The Chocolate Quarter offers consumers access to a range of activities that assist with their overall wellbeing of both mind and body. From gym classes with a personal trainer to the swimming pool, sauna and hot tub, with access to physiotherapists and other allied health professionals. Regular walking within the community environment or enjoying a coffee, a wine or a meal in the community cafes and restaurants. There are spaces available for craft activities as well as spaces that enable personal, quiet reflection. Regardless of what individual consumers may wish to do, there are many options available to all consumers either as part of their annual service charges or as fee for service.

Innovation

The Chocolate Quarter had a number of innovative approaches that ultimately improve the lived experience for each consumer. Specifically in the technology space, apartments were built with acoustic monitoring which can be turned off or on by the consumer. This technology ‘listens’ to sounds within the unit and learns what normal activity sounds like. In the event that the technology recognises something is not normal, an alert can be triggered to care staff to investigate. The CEO highlights the value of this technology if a consumer falls in their apartment. Each apartment has access to a consumer TV channel where key messages can be displayed and sent quickly if needed. The TV can also link to the cinema so that a consumer can watch any cinema shows in the comfort of their own home. There is also built-in capability to use the TV as a video conference into a medical practice, essentially creating telehealth visits from their home. Consumers can use an iPad screen within their apartment to see visitors at the front door, connect with other consumers in the building via messaging and order directly from the restaurant to have meals delivered to their room.

Community Impact and Sustainability

The Chocolate Quarter offers nursing home support and luxury retirement living for a new generation of retirees, with communal facilities built not just for the people living there, but also people from the surrounding area. The community’s feedback during the consultation process collectively said communities have the power to connect people and help them flourish. From this, The Chocolate Quarter refreshed their purpose statement to create three (3) primary aims;

1. Connection – people live their best lives.

2. Contribution – people feel valued and useful.

3. Choice – people live as independently as possible.

In addition to the intergenerational development embedded within the Chocolate Quarter, it is the offer of office spaces for local businesses that also positively contributes to the community. Investment in this infrastructure was something the CEO used to ‘sell’ his vision to the community, health authorities and Government. The Chocolate Quarter now leases office spaces, a medical practice, art/craft space, hairdresser and barber shop which is specifically for men as they do not like to use the hairdressers. There is also the gym, pool, and cinema which can be hired out for event parties. The restaurant and pizzeria are an integral part of the community connection.

Personal reflection following contact with St Monica Trust

From the moment I walked into the facility, it looked and felt different. The spaces were large and inviting, staff were friendly and I generally felt I was in a buzzing community waiting to catch up with a friend for coffee. The history wall invited you to read it and the chandelier caught my attention. After spending the day with the CEO talking, exploring, reviewing all aspects of the service, I gained a greater appreciation for what community engagement and true partnerships meant and how to be more creative in thinking about the construct of an aged care service. I also felt I learnt about bravery, to be brave and to do things differently. Finding ways to generate income through business diversification that enables reinvestment back into your core business was another take away message. Spaces that are not only commercial in nature but also artistic such as the art and pottery room that consumers can also enjoy.

The CEO was so passionate about the aged care sector and what is possible that his passion almost became a ‘call to arms’ when discussing how we can better integrate the whole of health service from the acute setting to community-based support and care. The Chocolate Quarter is one of the best examples of true community connection within an aged care service that I have seen. Its ability to connect with community and move away from the sole reliance on Government funding showcased that being self-sustainable is absolutely possible.

Take away messages from this visit included;

• A brilliant example of community integration and connection.

• Business diversification that reduces reliance on government funding.

• Use of technology to improve care outcomes and user experience.

• The positive impact of leadership and innovation.