Service Community, Tuusula
A service community at the heart of the housing fair area
Housing Fair Finland celebrated its 50th anniversary in Tuusula in August 2020. In the centre of the housing fair area, there is a communal service community created in accordance with Hoivatilat’s Dream Service Community concept. The comfortable facilities and the yard combine early childhood education with housing and care services for the elderly. The service community also has a day care centre for dogs and a deli restaurant.
Service Community, Tuusula
Client Norlandia Care Group
Tyyppi Service community
Location Tuusula
Completion time July 2020
Norlandia Health and Care Group is the Service Communities service provider. Miia Kollin, the country manager of Norlandia Päiväkodit, says that the project is important to the company in many ways: it is their first elderly care project in Finland; the first multi-generational service community from the same service provider; and their first facility built in a housing fair area.
– The scope of the service community makes it unique: the whole family gets their services under the same roof, from the baby to the grandfather and the family’s pet dog, says Kollin with delight.
Different generations brought together on a daily basis
The two-storey service building benefits from spatial and functional synergies, because it combines a nursing home for those who require round-the-clock care with a day care centre for children, creating a multi-generational care facility. In addition to the service building, there is a nursing home for elderly people in the service community. The apartments are compact and accessible with terraces and balconies. The service building also includes a working space for nurses.
The functional shared yard and versatile common facilities provide stimulation for active everyday living for residents of the block and the day care centre children, as well as visitors and staff. Interaction is natural when living under the same roof. However, joint facilities are also fully divisible and facilitate supervision, providing a safe and peaceful environment for living and early childhood education.
Residents can enjoy locally produced organic food prepared in the Norlandia deli kitchen, and everybody can buy meal packages there, which makes everyday life easier. The speciality of the Dream Service Community in Tuusula is the day care centre for dogs. Elderly people living in the assisted living facility can have their beloved pets close to them, and children can see their own pets during the day.
Wood construction is the main style at the Tuusula Housing Fair. It also shows in the Dream Service Community, both indoors and outdoors. Ecological, breathable and domestic materials are emphasised in interior design. In planning the facilities, special attention was paid to making them comfortable and cosy.
Diversity and active life
The mayor of Tuusula Arto Lindberg is happy that the new housing fair area is developing into a neighbourhood where people of all ages can enjoy living. The Dream Service Community is centrally located in the area, and it therefore plays a natural role as part of the community. Lindberg highly appreciates the combination of service operation, housing for elderly people and a day care centre.
– I’m delighted that there is going to be a new kind of service community in Tuusula. It brings diversity and active life to the area. We should encourage people to carry out such projects, which contribute to many good things and good innovations. It’s the modern way of doing things, Lindberg says.
According to Mira Kollin from Norlandia, a service community, especially one from a single service provider, is an excellent solution for municipalities struggling with a decreasing number of children and an increasing number of older people. The possibility to make changes to properties can be anticipated at the construction stage.
Norlandia and Hoivatilat have been collaborating for a long time in property projects related to early education. Well over a dozen projects have been completed.
– Partnership has been smooth from the very beginning to the agreed deadline when we are handed the keys. Hoivatilat has kept its service promise in every project very well, and we’ve been pleased to implement this wider project with them, says Kollin.
