Resources

16 Ambient Assisted Living Smart Homes

A unique collaboration between the Louth Local Authorities, local Health Service Executive, industry partners, research & development and the older residents. This demonstration project for independent living uses sensor technologies in a community and research context. This is a flagship project for County Louth as Ireland's first 'Age-Friendly' County, and for the Netwell & CASALA research centres at the Dundalk Institute of Technology.

GNH resident on his bicycle

The Netwell Centre set up an ageing-in-place research project to exam the impact of the housing on older peoples quality of life, while CASALA manages the technology, collates the data and adapts the systems to meet the unique needs on individual occupants.

A wide and rich data set is continuously being gathered from Great Northern Haven, from consenting residents, internally within the apartments and from the grounds of the development. Each apartment has 100+ sensors, connected TV's, touch screen devices and a core network infrastructure throughout. In total there are over two thousand (2000) sensors and actuators throughout the development.

The project seeks to enhance the quality of life of older people through ambient assisted living (AAL) technologies, using the best of sensor and healthcare technologies currently available and as part of a living lab for new technologies and services developed through research collaborations. Ongoing research at Great Northern Haven will inform national policy and provide international experience in relation to services for older people, and has a wide range of potential commercial applications.

CASALA is actively seeking commercial and applied research engagements with commercial and non-commercial organisations and other researchers, interested in technology and ageing; Contact CASALA for more information or to discuss a potential project.

Engineers Ireland Excellence Awards - 7th NOVEMBER 2011

Great Northern Haven was shortlisted for the Engineering Project of the Year 2011, as part of the Engineers Ireland Excellence Awards.

This was a wonderful acknowledgement for the project as these awards showcase projects that positively influence society through feats of engineering.

The Great Northern Haven apartments enable older residents to live independently and comfortably in their own homes, and have a huge influence on contemporary research into ageing well in Ireland. These homes provide a new model for independent living and will positively inform national policy in relation to services for older people.

The eventual winning project The Mizen Head Footbridge in Cork was selected by the Irish public in an online vote and announced at an awards ceremony in the Four Seasons Hotel on the 4th November last. Congratulations to them.

John Power, Engineers Ireland Director General quoted “In truth, all the short-listed entries showcase all that is good about the engineering sector and the value, both economically and socially, that engineers create for this country.”

See more details here.

Check out the GREAT NORTHERN HAVEN video links below:

VIDEO 1

Click on image to view RTE National News TV spot view.
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Great Northern Haven - Development Project Team

Client:	Dundalk Town Council, Louth County Council.
Partners:	Department of Environment and Local Government, Atlantic Philanthropies, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland
Project Steering Group:	Dundalk Town Council, Louth County Council, Health Service Executive (North East), Netwell Centre Dundalk Institute of Technology, MCO Projects

Project Architects / Project Management:	MCO Projects
Development Team:	PRP (Sub-consultant to MCO Projects)
	O’Connor Sutton Cronin (Structural Engineers)
	ARUP Consulting Engineers (M&E Engineers)
	Kerrigan Sheanan Newman (Quantity Surveyors)
Main Contractors:	O’Hanlon Farrell
	Haughton and Young (Mechanical Sub-Contractor)
	JJ McGowan (Electrical Sub-Contractor)
	Rockbrook Engineering (Sensor Technology Sub-Contractor)

Resources

We are working with industry and other stakeholders to achieve service and product innovation, business competitiveness, and market leadership within the ageing-in-place market sector. As part of our research and development environment we can provide access to a multi-tiered testbed, including:

Home in the Lab

Access to early adopters and alpha testers that are recruited from the local community. Including a physical home-environment in a lab setting, and the ability to simulate a models and environments through CAVE technology. The Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) is an immersive virtual reality environment. It offers a multi-person, room-sized, high-resolution 3D video and audio environment. As the user moves within the display boundaries, the correct perspective is displayed in real-time to achieve a fully immersive experience.

Lab in the Home

Access to a place-based evaluation framework from a transition studio, to 16 living apartments – Great Northern Haven, and the wider neighbourhood within the Barrack street area of Dundalk. This also provides state-of-the-art ambient assisted living (AAL) technologies to operate pilots for future developments and retrofits.

County Initiative

A large scale test environment as part of a wider program entitled Louth Age Friendly County Initiative. This initiative aims to make Louth a hub of excellence for improving the well-being and quality of life. This provides a diverse testbed of matched groups for follow up surveys, interviews, trials and simulations. Surveys and interviews provide insights into adults’ attitudes and behaviours towards all types of technology.