Simon Brooke Award presentation to St Michaels House

The Simon Brooke Award, presented by Clúid Housing, recognises excellence in the areas of housing policy and practice, which contribute to our vision of a society where everyone has a great place to live.

The late Simon Brooke, in whose honour the Simon Brooke Award was created, was Head of Policy with Clúid. Up until his untimely death in November 2019, Simon worked tirelessly to break the stigmas attached to social housing and to ensure that everyone in Ireland had a great place to live. Simon’s willingness to challenge the status quo advocating for policy change to improve people’s lives and his drive to collaborate and share knowledge, has shaped the social housing sector for the better. These are the qualities that led to the creation of the Simon Brooke Award and lecture.

It was on this basis that in 2024 we put out a call for submissions on the topic of independence and accessibility in housing for disabled people. This year’s winners are St.Michael’s House.

St. Michael’s House (SMH) is a leading Irish non-profit organisation that provides services and support to individuals with disabilities and their families. Its core mission is to work with service users to understand their needs and wishes and help them achieve their goals so people of all abilities can live a life of their choosing. This is a vision which is very much shared by Clúid.

The St. Michael’s House entry was submitted by Fire Prevention Officer, Isolde Veld. Isolde has significant experience working with fire evacuation problems, specifically around ageing and disability.

The project submitted outlined a real-life case study of a person living independently in a St. Michael’s House premises supported by a community team. In this situation, there was an overarching risk of the person not evacuating or not being able to evacuate in the event of a fire or other similar emergency. This service user expressed a strong preference for remaining in their current home. Numerous measures had been attempted by the support workers, clinical team and SMH Fire Prevention Officer to reduce the risk, leaving a fixed fire suppression system as the only solution to reduce the risk to an adequate level.

The system installation took 1.5 days to complete with minimal disruption. This was a reassurance for the person living there, as they had been anxious about the work scheduled to be carried out and the disruption to their routine.

Once installed the support staff explained what the system was and how it would operate to maintain safety while living there. The system has had no direct impact on the person, and is subtle in design, which means it blends in with the home aesthetic. The system is the first of its kind installed in a disability residential home.

A person-centred approach was core to the success of the project. The person was able to communicate their will and preference to remain in their home and not move to a sheltered or other alternative accommodation. The collaboration and willingness of different disciplines worked as everyone wanted this person to be safe to remain in their home.

Congratulations to Isolde and the rest of the team at St. Michael’s House, the winners of the 2024 Simon Brooke Award.

Click here to watch the full Simon Brooke Lecture now on Clúid’s YouTube channel or visit https://youtu.be/jlwOmSfgM4o?si=JVj2QqTJmqhCfD_p