The role of the imagined user in the design of energy-efficient extra-care housing schemes

One solution to the problem of how to enable older people to retain their independence, popular with policymakers in recent years, is the creation of specialist housing designed specifically for the typical needs of older people. In particular, extra-care housing, where each resident has their own apartment or bungalow but also has access to onsite communal facilities such as restaurants and to care if necessary, has received extensive funding. The current Coalition Government, in its recently published Housing Strategy, has pledged to encourage local authorities to make further provision of this housing type.Implicit in the concept of specialist housing is the notion of a ‘special’ occupant, an imagined older person. This user representation is often inscribed in design features, such that the energy-efficiency performance of buildings equipped with low-carbon technologies depends upon the occupants’ compliance with certain anticipated ‘scenarios of use’ or ‘scripts’. Conversely the occupants’ ability to control their thermal environment depends on the level of ‘fit’ between these scripts and the daily practices by which older occupants maintain thermal comfort. Currently there is little evidence to show whether these ‘scripts’ and occupants’ daily practices are compatible.Through semi-structured interviews with people involved in the design and management of extra-care housing schemes, this paper explores how these user representations are constructed and inscribed in housing design. The paper also investigates how these user representations compare with reality through interviews with people living in extra-care housing. The implications for energy use and occupants’ thermal comfort are also explored.