Feasibility study for an integrated elderly-care complex in the north of Bucharest, on Gh. Ionescu Șișești Road — a continuum of care concept that brings together, on the same site, independent homes, apartments, assisted-care rooms, its own hospital, a medical mall and dedicated lifestyle services. With a total built area of approximately 21,240 sqm on a 1-hectare plot, developed in four buildings, the project was designed to allow the elderly to remain within a single community as their care needs evolve.

Challenges

The brief was atypical for the Romanian real-estate market of 2015: not a senior residence in the classic sense, nor an assisted-living home, but an ensemble with three levels of resident autonomy, plus its own medical component and services that make the complex a micro-community for living, not just an accommodation space. A concept developed in the USA and Western Europe under the name Continuing Care Retirement Community — at the time of the project, without a comparable precedent on the Romanian market.

Solutions

Three levels of autonomy on the same site. Individual homes (building C4, 4 units on the ground floor, the highest autonomy), apartments (building C3, G+5F, for seniors still autonomous but who prefer community living) and assisted-care rooms (floors 2-5 of building C1, for residents requiring constant medical supervision). The transition between the three types happens without relocation outside the complex — a direct response to a need rarely addressed in Romania: the continuity of a familiar environment as one's health evolves.

An integrated, in-house medical component. A hospital with beds on floors 2-5 of the main building, alongside a ground-floor medical mall — clinic, pharmacy, laboratory, dentistry, recovery pool and physiotherapy room. The complex's residents have direct access to care without leaving the site, while the services are also open to outside patients, ensuring the operational load of the medical infrastructure.

Lifestyle services for long-term occupancy of the complex. A restaurant with a terrace, a multifunctional hall, a library, a chapel, a games space, a barber, a hairdresser, legal consultancy, assistance for real-estate transactions. The elderly who move into the complex use it as their permanent home, and the amenities meet the requirements of a complete long-term life, not just medical needs.

Density and green terraces. A 44.9% building footprint on a 1-hectare plot allows extensive green spaces (3,250 sqm), pedestrian alleys with a fountain (1,144 sqm) and a grassed terrace at floor 2 level (1,103 sqm) accessible to residents of all buildings via the connecting walkway between C1 and C3.

Result

For Numărul 12, a complete feasibility study — spatial-volumetric balance, urban planning framing, the functional configuration of the four buildings, the sizing of the medical component, an investment estimate — for an ensemble that anticipated a typology not yet matured on the Romanian market of 2015. For PPAE, a project kept in the portfolio as proof of the ability to configure complex functional ensembles — combining residential, medical and services on a single site — relevant today, when the private elderly-care market has developed and the continuum of care concept has become a recognized model.

Do you have an investment in a residential complex for seniors, with or without an integrated medical component? The PPAE team can support your project from concept to completion. Contact us