Being woken up by the sound of police sirens is a thing of the past for 80-year-old Moira Symmons. Her life couldn’t be more different since moving into a new sheltered housing scheme run by Brunel Care in Fishponds, Bristol.

“It’s so lovely here. It’s like being in a hotel,” she says. “My flat is huge, and the other tenants are very friendly.”

It’s all a far cry from her life in a 1960s high-rise tenement block. “I lived there for 29 years,” she explains. “At the beginning it was very nice, but when my husband passed away five years ago I felt very isolated and lonely. I cried more than I laughed.”

Even transferring to another flat in the block didn’t help.

“I moved into a smaller flat on the fourth floor, thinking it would be quiet, but the noise was terrible. Prostitutes would come and go at all hours, and the police were always coming around because of the drug dealers.”

In February 2006, she moved into Colliers Gardens. Externally Colliers Gardens is a stylish combination of timber, glass, white stucco and aluminium. Internally the private rooms and communal spaces are light, airy and generously proportioned.

The flats are arranged in two-storey wings connected by a wide ‘street’, creating a sequence of small-scale indoor and outdoor courtyards.

“Since I moved in I’ve never been happier,” Moira says.