First residents due mid-October at Brickfields, 28 accessible flats in Hove

The first residents of Brickfields, a supported living scheme on Ingram Crescent in Hove, are expected to move in mid-October. Brighton & Hove City Council¹ said construction of the scheme is now complete.

The 28 flats are for people with physical disabilities or acquired brain injury. Grace Eyre Foundation will run the care and support service, with staff on site 24 hours a day. The building will be leased to Southdown Housing, which will manage, look after and repair it.

Residents will move in gradually over a couple of months, the council said, and its adult social care assessment teams are reviewing who will live there.

The building stands on the site of the former Knoll House. Every flat is wheelchair accessible, each has a balcony, and two have been designed for bariatric residents. Residents can use communal gardens on the ground floor and roof terrace. Raised planters across the scheme let them grow vegetables or flowers. Heating comes from air source heat pumps.

Bee bricks and swift bricks are built into the building to help biodiversity. The design has been recognised with a Housing Design Award.

Councillor Mitchie Alexander, the council’s cabinet member for communities, equalities, public health and adult social care, said the homes would let residents “live independently, with the reassurance of tailored support available around the clock”. She also thanked local residents “for their patience and understanding throughout the construction period.”

Once Southdown and Grace Eyre are in place, they plan to give neighbours ways to get in touch with them.