Yarnley House Care Home sits within the New Forest National Park and provides 24-hour accommodation and support across Residential Care, Dementia Care, Nursing Care and Respite Care. The 72 en-suite bedroom facility offers high-end dining, a café, a cinema room and entertainment suite, a hair salon and spa.
To support the long-term operation, energy reporting and end-user understanding of the building services, Dewick & Associates was engaged to deliver a coordinated set of three documents on behalf of the project’s mechanical and electrical contractor.
Our scope covered the Mechanical O&M Manuals, a BSRIA Building User Guide written for end users and occupants, and a CIBSE TM31 Logbook for monitoring energy and design performance over time.
By Liana Ossai
Credit: The image has been generated by AI and depicts a conceptual aged care home in the UK. It is not the actual site.
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MJD Mechanical & Electrical Services is the M&E contractor responsible for the building services installation at Yarnley House. With the facility supporting older residents across residential, dementia, nursing and respite care, the building services have to deliver consistent comfort and safety around the clock, while meeting the broader expectations placed on UK care providers in terms of energy performance and operational documentation. MJD required a documentation partner who could combine an O&M Manual with a clear end-user guide and an ongoing performance logbook, all written from the same underlying technical understanding of the building.
Care homes carry a particular kind of operational sensitivity. Residents with high care needs depend on stable temperatures, reliable hot water, continuous ventilation and well-maintained safety systems, and the staff who manage these buildings often work without a dedicated facilities team. This shapes the documentation in two ways: the technical content has to be accurate enough for external maintenance providers to act on, and the user-facing content has to be clear enough for non-technical staff to follow under day-to-day pressure.
In addition, these environments sit within a tightly regulated framework that must be reflected in the documentation from handover onwards. Key requirements include CQC Regulation 15 for the suitability, safety and ongoing maintenance of premises and equipment, Building Regulations Part B and Part M covering fire safety and accessibility, and sector-specific expectations around infection control and safe water management. The CIBSE TM31 Logbook adds a further dimension, requiring the project’s design intent and energy targets to be captured at handover so that performance can be tracked and managed over the life of the building.
Dewick & Associates’ in-house Technical Writers and Chartered Engineers produced three coordinated deliverables for the project. The Building User Guide follows BSRIA guidance and serves as a quick, practical management and operation guide for end users and occupants, written in plain language and focused on the day-to-day decisions care home staff actually face. The Mechanical O&M Manuals fully detail the installation and the operation and maintenance requirements, supporting both internal staff and external maintenance contractors. The CIBSE TM31 Logbook summarises the design, captures key energy targets and provides a structured record of building performance and any modifications made over time.
The project resulted in a coordinated handover package that supports both the technical operation and the long-term performance management of the home. The Yarnley House team has a clear technical record for the mechanical systems, a user-friendly guide for everyday operation, and a structured logbook for tracking energy and performance over time. Together, these documents help the operations team optimise comfort and safety for residents and minimise the risk of disruption in a setting where dependable building services directly affect quality of care.
The content in this case study has been informed by project documentation and client communication provided to Dewick & Associates during and following the completion of the project. Where external sources have contributed to our understanding of relevant standards or industry practice, these are listed below.
Care Quality Commission (CQC) – Regulation 15: Premises and Equipment
NHS England – Health Building Note 08-02 Dementia-friendly environments
CQC Regulation 15 guidance (includes maintenance and safe operation expectations)
The image has been generated by AI and depicts a conceptual aged care home in the UK. It is not the actual site.
Note: Some content in this case study draws on a combination of sources rather than direct quotation. Where this is the case, contributing sources are acknowledged above rather than cited inline.
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