Bellfield Age Supportive Benches
Over the last few years the Bellfield Centre, which is based on the site of the former Stirling Community Hospital in Stirling, has been the centre of a collaborative arts project. The purpose-built centre provides intermediate health and social care for older people to learn (or re-learn) the skills they need to be independent.
Some of the original benches from the Alan Lodge Centre.
Part of the arts project saw the redesign and reappropriation of eight park benches from a previous care home. Working with residents, community groups, occupational therapists and dementia specialists, the benches were refurbished and augmented with designed interventions making them more accessible and dementia friendly.
When the Bellfield Centre opened in December 2018, it absorbed several care facilities in the area, one of which was the Alan Lodge Centre. The Alan Lodge Centre played a significant role in the care and rehabilitation of many people over the years and the repurposing of eight park benches from the centre was viewed as an important recognition of the work the centre had done. The benches had been positioned in the grounds of Alan Lodge to facilitate outdoor engagement as a recovery tool. It became a circuit of benches residents could navigate and measure their ability along with carers and therapists.
Jason Nelson, Artist and Lecturer at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at the University of Dundee, who led the arts project, was tasked with reimagining the bench installation on the publicly accessible grounds of the Bellfield Centre. To do this, design interventions on the preexisting benches and simple augmentations to make them accessible and suitable for an open public environment were explored.
The original benches were in varying states of repair and in the first instance needed refurbished to make them fit for purpose in a public space. This involved a range of solutions from rot removal, element replacement and in some cases complete dismantle and rebuild.
Jason then worked with Bellfield residents and occupational therapists to gain a better understanding of the task of sitting on public seating and what this can entail for users.
Primary issues included:
Public seating is often too low and can cause issues when users try to get in or out of the seating.
Park benches are also often too deep and lack enough arm rests to assist with entering and leaving the seat.
The ground surrounding the bench or access across the terrain to the seating can be problematic. If the user uses a walking aid, then surface and topography have a considerable impact on whether someone can even get to the seat.
Further consultation with ageing and dementia specialists, including Dr Martin Quirke from DSDC, University of Stirling, presented spatial and visual perception as impacting on accessibility. How our senses change or deteriorate impacts on how we perceive and engage with our environment(s). Dementia as a condition can affect a person's sight and perception in several ways including object recognition, spatial location, contrast sensitivity and colour discrimination.
Some of the redesigned benches at the Bellfield Centre.
The benches were installed in their new home at the Bellfield in 2024. As you will see from the pictures, the design refinements have allowed for a more inclusive adaptation of the existing benches. All the benches have been raised using metalwork to a more appropriate height. Further metalwork has been used intertwined between the benches to provide handrails for ease of use. The handrails and benches have also been painted in appropriate colourways to provide a tonal contrast for the ageing eye to allow the benches to be easier seen.
It is hoped that these benches will become an important installation within the grounds of the Bellfield, similar to that of their prequel.
