This development was for a community of individuals with a variety of care requirements. We worked closely with residents and their carers to help them with the transition from a traditional institutional rural care home to independent living with 24 hour local support close to Duns town centre. A ‘tartan grid’ of houses mixes alternate gables and eaves along the road giving character to the street. ‘Core’ houses for those with greater care needs, are connected via a linear covered walkway to a communal services building while cluster houses are arranged around the periphery. The commonly understood character of a home is created by the use of simple pitched roofs with gables at either end. Trim detailing emphasises these clean forms, while recesses provide sheltered inviting entrances to each dwelling. Mindful of a limited budget and stringent space requirements, the project employs simple means to provide a sense of calm, enhancing the domestic feel of the site. Three different colours of stained larch alternate across the houses, cladding pairs of adjacent long and gable walls in each building, while fibre cement slates continue down from the roofs to cover the remaining walls. Efficient floor plans provide comfortable spaces for wheelchair users to move easily around their homes, with assistive technologies, including ceiling mounted hoists, integrated into the design.