Storyopen ElderCare 20 Granny Annexe Mobile Home — Family Care Edition

The Storyopen ElderCare 20 Granny Annexe Mobile Home is designed for families seeking to provide independent, dignified, and age-appropriate residential accommodation for elderly parents or family members in the family garden — enabling the proximity that family care requires without the loss of independence and privacy that moving into the main family home inevitably creates. The ElderCare 20 is built to the accessibility standards of a Purpose Built Accessible Dwelling under the Building Regulations Part M Category 2 equivalent, modified for the garden annexe deployment context, and sized for single or couple occupancy at a scale that feels like a proper home rather than a reduced compromise.

The 20-square-metre floor plan is organised around the needs of an older occupant: a level-access entrance with a covered canopy porch, a wet room bathroom with a 1500mm × 900mm level-access shower, fold-down shower seat at the correct 480mm height, grab rails at toilet and shower at all Part M-specified positions, and a 1,200mm turning circle clearance at all key activity positions. The open-plan kitchen-living area features base unit handles sized for reduced grip strength, a front-loaded washing machine and washer-dryer combo at accessible height, induction hob with automatic pan-detection and cut-out, and a wall oven at accessible height eliminating stooping. Underfloor heating throughout provides comfortable warmth without the trip hazard of portable heaters or the reach requirement of wall-mounted radiator controls.

Connectivity between the ElderCare 20 and the main family home is built into the product: a hardwired emergency call point system with two-way audio, a covered connecting path with motion-activated lighting is available as an optional add-on from Storyopen’s accessory range, and the electrical installation includes a provision for a live video-doorbell with display screen in the main family home. The ElderCare 20 connects to the main home’s internet router via a pre-installed WiFi range extender with mesh network capability.

Storyopen provides a full garden annexe planning guidance pack covering the relevant use of Caravan Sites legislation, Certificates of Lawful Development, ancillary residential use planning applications, and council tax registration for the most common local authority interpretations of garden annexe development in England, Scotland, and Wales.