Case Studies

County: London Borough of Hounslow

Funding theme: Lounge refurbishment

Amount secured: £5,000

About the project

Dashwood Court in the London Borough of Hounslow offers a supportive residential environment of 38 self-contained flats for older people. Constructed in the 1980s, Dashwood Court was designed for independent tenants aged 55 plus who need a little support. Throughout the building’s life, there had been significant investment from Green Hill Housing Association; however, some areas remained in need of modernisation. Communal hallways, carpets, heating, and lounges all needed attention and a refresh.

Green Hill Housing Association applied for a grant to refurbish the large communal lounge and adjoining kitchen, making it a more pleasant space for residents to come together, meet, and engage in social activities. They also used their grant to purchase new furniture to complete the lounge room makeover.

Prior to the refurbishment, social activities at Dashwood Court were limited to coffee mornings and bingo, with occasional day trips. The Residents Association found out what residents would like and organised activities, but there was not much variety, and the available activities did not reflect the range of interests held by tenants.

Tenants found life lonely, with family and friends not always nearby or readily available to visit. For some, the garden and lounge were the only two spaces that provided an opportunity to leave their self-contained flats. However, residents found the lounge undesirable and did not wish to spend time there.

With limited funds and mobility issues, making the communal space at Dashwood Court more homely, inviting and a place of tenant activity became a priority.

Mission

Through conversations with tenants, the local authority and partner community groups, it was found that there would be more appetite to run community programmes in the communal lounge if the space was more inviting. With a refreshed lounge space, there were exciting possibilities of yoga, arts and crafts, intergenerational activities through school visits, movie nights, and the chance to develop and share cooking skills and meals if the kitchen was upgraded.

An interior designer was appointed to create ‘mood boards’ to let tenants choose the style and colours they wanted to see in their communal lounge, including painting, decorating, new flooring, and new furniture.

The refurbishment was completed in January 2025, and since then, the lounge and kitchen have seen a new lease of life, with activities held five days each week. There is a timetable of varied activities, and tenants enjoy leading sessions from chair yoga with Leena, Bingo with Steve, jewellery making with Brenda, board games and craft making. Since the refurbishment of the adjoining kitchen, a soup making workshop is delivered once a week in return for a small donation to cover the cost of ingredients. Led by Zaleem, the community kitchen is thriving every Wednesday.

Looking ahead

The Local Service Manager said that prior to the refurbishment, the lounge was ‘dark and gloomy with old furniture, and no one wanted to sit there. By giving tenants choice over the sofa, walls, and other furniture colour scheme, we encouraged their participation. Tenants now feel good about the space, want to use it, and enjoy it.’

There is interest in expanding the weekly soup making workshops so they are not limited to tenants only. By inviting local residents into the communal lounge, tenants can make new friends and enhance the sense of community in Hounslow.

Wifi is available, and some tenants pop in for tea or coffee, so they have yet to make more of the space, but more are leaving their flats to come to the lounge. Tahir reported seeing tenants who had never been to the lounge. In the twelve months before the refurbishment, there were 122 activities, which attracted 1,048 attendees over a year. Since the refurbishment was completed in January, to date, the total number of activities held has been 72, and the total number of participants has been 580.

There are discussions to involve tenants in selecting photographs of local landmarks and the history of Hounslow to further personalise the lounge. One of the tenants is a wildlife photographer, and he prints out his photos to create an annual calendar, which he gifts to other tenants.

Social value

A small grant has gone a long way for the tenants of Dashwood Court.

Social mobility inclusion and representation

Social impact area 1:

They now have a place to gather, socialise, learn and stimulate their mental and physical wellbeing through the gentle chair exercise, learning arts and crafts and using their memory and cognitive skills with the games and friendly interaction.

Social impact area 2:

The grant has further enabled Green Hill Housing Association to put residents at the heart of participation by sharing their views on refurbishing the space with an interior designer. When the designer heard about the intention to run tenant-led jewellery making, she donated wires to the group for their activities. Hounslow's community is diverse in terms of ethnicity, religion, and background, and Dashwood Court is a place for multi-faith celebrations, including and not limited to Christmas, Easter, Diwali, and Eid.

Environment, enhancing premises & use of facilities

Social impact area 3:

Activities in the lounge that had been funded by Hounslow Council and had previously ended, such as the soup making kitchen, have since been taken forward by the residents themselves.

Tenants have shown an enthusiastic level of initiative. They keep one another updated about upcoming and new activities on a WhatsApp group. There is a genuine sense of community and a desire to include fellow residents, particularly those who have not yet come to the lounge.

By revitalising a tired, worn space and making it appealing, residents’ wellbeing has been improved. Tenants reported feeling less lonely and expressed how they now communicate with each other, relax more together, and enjoy company because the lounge environment has been transformed. Mohamed made clear, ‘When we come here, we are not lonely. We sing, we laugh, we joke.’