Sector

Specialist Living.

Overview

Older persons, extra care, and specialist supported housing, designed around dignity, independence, and community. Award-winning schemes built to HAPPI standards.

By the numbers · Specialist Living

Verified May 2026

240
Specialist living homes delivered: 2
HAPPI-standard schemes: 7
Awards · Daventry House: 1
Awards · Holbeck Living

Featured in Specialist LivingMost-awarded scheme

Daventry House (Lisson Arches).

WestminsterOlder PersonsCompleted 2023

60
Homes: £28m
Contract value: 2023
Completed: 7
Awards

View the project

Most-awarded scheme · Specialist Living

Daventry House (Lisson Arches)

Westminster · Older Persons

Why BREE Construction for Specialist Living

Dignity, independence, community, designed in.

Specialist living is its own discipline. HAPPI design principles, accessibility, dementia-friendly wayfinding and the operational needs of warden and scheme-manager service models all shape the floor plan before the architecture begins. BREE Construction has been designing and delivering specialist housing schemes long enough to know how to do it without flattening the human experience inside.

Independence preserved across the resident’s tenure

HAPPI design, accessibility specifications and dementia-friendly wayfinding combine to keep residents independent for longer, and reduce the operational load on the care service.

Community designed in, not bolted on

Communal lounges, hobby rooms, gardens and scheme-manager offices sized and located to encourage daily resident interaction without forcing it.

Operational fit for the service model

Warden accommodation, care-staff routines, scheme-manager offices and back-of-house facilities planned around the operator’s actual day-to-day, not a generic specialist-living template.

How we deliver

The 6-pillar method.

How specialist living actually moves through the practice, from brief to handover, scheme after scheme.

Pillar 1 / 6

HAPPI-standard design throughout

All ten HAPPI design principles applied as the spine of the brief, natural light, balconies and outdoor space, generous communal areas, adaptable homes, and the level of finish dignity demands.

Pillar 2 / 6

Accessibility specified, not retro-fitted

Wheelchair-adaptable homes, level-access bathrooms, generous circulation widths, lift cores sized for stretcher access, designed in from day one, not added at planning amendment.

Pillar 3 / 6

Dementia-friendly wayfinding

Colour-coded floors, clear sightlines from entrance to amenity, contrasting handrails, glare-controlled glazing, the small specifications that compound into a building older residents can navigate independently.

Pillar 4 / 6

Social-space planning for community

Communal lounges, hobby rooms, gardens, scheme-manager offices, sized and located to encourage daily resident interaction without forcing it. Independence and community held in balance.

Pillar 5 / 6

Operational fit for the service model

Warden accommodation, scheme-manager offices, care-staff routines and back-of-house facilities planned around the operator’s service model, extra-care provision, retirement living, supported housing, each with its own operational logic.

Pillar 6 / 6

Award-winning architecture

Daventry House (Westminster, 60 homes for City of Westminster) holds RIBA London, AJ, Inside Housing, Planning, NLA, Housing Design and CCS Gold, seven awarding bodies recognising the same scheme. The bar that the rest of the specialist-living portfolio holds itself to.

The portfolio