Martello Manor Shortlisted for National Design Award
Martello Manor, the 70-bedroom care home on Farmer Road in Hythe, has been named a finalist in the Care Home Design of the Year category at the Leaders in Care Awards 2026, run by Care Home Professional magazine.
The home, which opened in June 2026 offering residential, dementia and short-stay care, was designed with Catalyst Interiors around a single idea: that a care home should feel like it belongs to its town. The interior draws on Hythe’s coastline and its Martello Towers, worked through in coastal blues, warm neutrals, natural textures and locally inspired artwork.
That thinking shaped more than the colour palette. Every community and shared space carries a name rooted in local memory. Saltwood Mews nods to the neighbouring village and its castle, Artillery Way to the Hythe Ranges, and Cannons Lounge to the town’s military history and Hythe Town Football Club. St Leonard’s Lounge takes its name from the town’s historic church, and Cinque Lounge from Hythe’s Cinque Ports heritage. The Venetian hair salon honours the town’s Venetian Fête, held since 1896, while Tower 14 activities room is named for the Martello Tower visible from the home’s first floor. The Tabernacle snug, home to the Hythe Dementia Forum, references a local chapel, and The Haven sensory room takes its name from the old meaning of Hythe itself: a landing place, a safe harbour.
For Development Director Tom Duck, the award nomination validates a design approach that starts with the town, not the building. “Every name and finish in this building answers the same question: what would make someone from Hythe feel like they already know this place?” he says. “For a resident, that’s not decoration. It’s the difference between a corridor and a lounge named for a fete they’ve gone to every summer, or a window where they can point at the actual Martello Tower. Design either gives someone a reason to recognise where they are, or it doesn’t.”
Inside the home, the design’s effect on daily life is something Home Manager Marlene Abreu sees play out constantly. “Residents don’t have to learn this place. They recognise a name, a view, a colour, and something clicks,” she says. “I’ve watched people stop in front of Tower 14 because they can see the actual tower from the window. That kind of recognition does more for someone settling in than we could ever explain to them in words.”
Families have noticed too. Amanda K., who viewed the home before it opened, said: “We viewed Martello Manor prior to the opening and immediately knew it was the right place for Mum,” describing it as “absolutely beautiful” and adding, simply, “Mum is so happy here.” Another visitor likened the reception and bistro to “a five-star hotel with a bistro for residents to entertain visitors with coffees and fresh cakes and pastries,” praising a home that is “spotlessly clean” with “every attention to detail observed.” Karen T. described the admissions process itself as “seamless and easy,” with staff “kind, helpful and supportive throughout,” while Stephen B., whose 94-year-old parents joined for two weeks of respite care after a difficult experience elsewhere, said the team were “fantastic in getting them to come in” and that the stay “really energised” his mother. Within the home’s first six weeks, five reviews were submitted, each awarding five stars for overall experience.
For Ameet Kotecha, Founder and Managing Director of Boutique Care Homes, the nomination is recognition of something harder to design for than any finish or fitting. “You can choose beautiful materials and brief a talented design team, but you can’t manufacture the feeling that a building belongs somewhere,” he says. “Martello Manor earning this recognition tells us that what we set out to build in Hythe, something unmistakably of this town, has actually landed. That matters more to me than the trophy itself.”
At Martello Manor, that sense of belonging was never the finished product. It’s the starting point for everything the home does next, in a way that reaches every one of the Life Enrichment Programme’s six principles: Move, Connect, Reflect, Feel, Grow and Contribute. Not just care. Life, thriving.
Winners will be announced at a ceremony at the Forest of Arden Hotel and Country Club on 6 October 2026.
