Bertha Park, Our Inclusive Community

The ab+c team are extremely proud to be supporting Capability Scotland with ‘Our Inclusive Community Project’, an opportunity at the heart of a new community in Bertha Park, Perth. The project aspires to create a centre of excellence that develops and delivers exemplar care, and innovative homes for individuals with complex needs. They want to develop connections with local people and help shape an inclusive community as the Bertha Park development continues to evolve.

Bertha Park itself is a new development by Springfield Properties with an exciting masterplan to deliver more than 3,000 new homes. To date they have delivered the road infrastructure, a High School, and 1000 new homes.

The site is located on the new high street, which offers an active public frontage and interface with the wider community, and strengthens Capability Scotland’s aspiration to provide a heart to Bertha Park – a centre that welcomes the community in and provide residents with a safe place and opportunity to choose how they want to integrate and participate in their new wider community.
The site at Bertha Park benefits from an eastern outlook onto a linear park which forms a green network between Bertha Loch to the north, and to the River Almond and woodland to the south. This allows residents opportunities for access to quality outdoor spaces; provides animated views of passing activities; and encourages social interaction with their wider community that develops connections, a network of support and a sense of security. Our project will be a place making initiative that will be leading in the design of green spaces, streets, and public realm to create a more inclusive community.

The masterplan for ‘Our Inclusive Community Project’ is focused on a holistic approach to health and wellbeing and, through the initial co-production, a Service model that empowers individuals for personal growth and to live a fulfilling life supported by exemplar care and staff facilities has evolved.
At its core, ‘Our Inclusive Community Project’ is a home, centred around the needs, aspirations, and ambitions of the existing Upper Springland residents - all of whom have various complex needs.

Capability Scotland’s mission is to bring people together, to deliver a centre for excellence that provides resources around information for individuals, families, friends, and professionals living with disabilities, while promoting personal growth so that all residents will live to their full potential.

It is the over 200 dedicated staff who make this possible - from carers, to day services, night shift, physiotherapists, cleaners, and cooks. Capability Scotland’s ambition to explore how their workplace could better support the care they deliver but more importantly the staff themselves and their wellbeing, is what will make this a centre for excellence.

We have learnt that residents’ quality of life is enhanced by their friendships and the strong sense of community that exists between them, the staff that care for them, the 34 day customers who use the studio and therapy spaces.

Capability Scotland’s vision is for homes that promote independence with the support of care and their community. Studios will have front doors that promote independence and identity, with private outdoor space providing direct connections to outdoors and views to green spaces that help to promote social connections with their wider community.

Connecting the individual homes will be shared living spaces for meals and destinations for activities and social interaction, with connections to the central courtyard.