The progress of the Homes4Life project was presented by Prof. Alexander Peine, Utrech University at the last ECTP AA&D – Active Ageing & Design – Committee meeting held on the 3rd of December, 2019.

Driving innovation and change through research. To help create a better future for the Built Environment industry in Europe.

The main mission of ECTP and its committees is to develop new R&D&I strategies to improve competitiveness, meet societal needs & take up environmental challenges through an Innovative Built Environment.

ECTP recognises the need for research to make strategic decisions today and to future proof industry for tomorrow. We use our strategic research agenda to determine the challenges and issues facing the Built Environment in Europe, helping to lead the way to industry growth and a more sustainable future.

Further information about ECTP and how to become a member at ectp.org.

Homes4Life partner Università Politecnica delle Marche – Fabiano Compagnucci – presented our project at the AgeingFit event in Nice, France, on the 29th of January 2020.

AgeingFit is the European event fostering innovation in the healthy ageing sector. A specific track was organised on the topic “Building new smart homes of focusing on retrofit ?: How to design and deliver housing that older people want and need ?”

On Wednesday 29th January 2020, Homes4Life held its first review meeting at the European Commission  – DG Connect – in Luxembourg. The meeting was an opportunity to discuss the project progress and review the achievements of the first year.

Homes4Life is continuing the recruitment of at least 10 pilot buildings throughout Europe that will be pioneering the newly developed Homes4Life Certification Scheme for Ageing in Place.

Register to our project Community of Interest to keep updated with our progress and to contribute !

The construction sector has a huge role to play in making our world sustainable, not only because it represents a large part of our physical environment, but because it is an industry that impacts all areas of society.

ISO’s International Standard for sustainability in this sector has just been updated.

Further info available here

AGE Platform – The Voice of older persons at EU level –  Nhu Tram – attended an ETSI open meeting on the 11th December 2019 in Brussels, entitled “Smart cities and communities – Standardization to meet citizen and consumer requirements“.

ETSI’s Human Factors Technical Committee, is preparing a Technical Report with recommendations giving an overview of existing and needed standardization relating to the requirements of inhabitants of or visitors to smart cities or communities. The Report will examine the standards landscape in this context, and make recommendations as to how the current situation can be improved.

Nhu participated to the “citizens’ panel” dealing with issues of accessibility, privacy, and security among others. Ahead of the event, a written statement was prepared and can be found here.

Further info about the event can be found here.

Menno Hinkema from TNO presented Homes4Life at Healthy City Design 2019.

His talk offered the opportunity to reflect on the project’s proposed vision and working taxonomy of age-friendly homes in terms of their characteristics, requirements and effects.

The workshop permitted to receive input from other experiences to inform the development of the future Homes4Life certification scheme.

The video and slides of the presentation are available on the Salus Global Online Community.

Homes4Life summarised in 2 minutes ! Watch our first Homes4Life video just released on Vimeo !

Thanks to Babylonia Brussels & 4Audio recording studio for their amazing work !

The Centre for Ageing Better and nine organisations from across the housing and charity sectors are today warning of a crisis in the provision of suitable housing for older and disabled people as they launch a new coalition to campaign for accessible homes.

Recent research showed that less than half of local housebuilding plans in England included provision for accessible homes. Meanwhile the number of households headed by someone aged 65 and over has increased by more than a million since 2010/11. By 2030, projected figures suggest that there will be just one new accessible home built for every 15 people over the age of 65.

The HoME coalition has today launched a 7-step charter to transform new housing, including recommendations for central and local government, estate agents, and developers.

Read the vision document here.

“Euskadi Lagunkoia” is a project of the Department of Employment and Social Policies of the Basque Government in collaboration with Matia Instituto, which is aimed at promoting participation of citizens as well as the public, private and social sector to develop a movement to foster age-friendly living environments.

This initiative is based on the “Age-friendly Environments Programme” promoted by the World Health Organisation. At the present time more than 60 cities and towns throughout the Basque Country are members of this Network and more than 800 are in the world Network of the WHO.

The III Conference “Good European Age-Friendliness Practices” is part of this project.

Silvia Urra (TECNALIA) presented the project Homes4Life in TABLE 1: Best practice in Europe.

Learn more at : https://jornadas.euskadilagunkoia.net/en/home-jornadas-en

Menno Hinkema from TNO, presented Homes4Life at the 3rd Healthy City Design 2019 International Congress in London, 14-15 Oct. 2019, UK.

This International Congress & Exhibition is a global forum for the exchange of knowledge on the research, policy and practice of designing healthy and sustainable cities and communities. 

The presentation was held in a parallel track entitled “Designing for ageing” chaired by Hugh Barton, Emeritus Professor of planning, health and sustainability in the WHO Collaborating Centre at the University of the West of England, Bristol.

Interesting discussion have permitted dissemination of Homes4Life’ existence and focus to a UK audience of architects and designers, property developers, urban planners, and public authority representatives.

Learn more about HEALTY CITY DESIGN 2019 at https://healthycitydesign2019.salus.global/conference-show/healthy-city-design-2019