In July of this year, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued a public notice proposing to list ‘elderly-friendly renovation designer’ as a new occupation. This means that this previously ‘nameless and unrecognized’ job has finally received official recognition at the national level. (Now,the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other departments released 23 new occupations to the public on September 9, including elderly-friendly renovation designer.)

Why now? The data provides the answer: as of the end of 2025, China’s population aged 60 and above has reached 320 million, of whom 90% choose to age at home. Yet existing housing stock is severely lacking in elderly-friendly features. Including elderly-friendly renovation designer in the national occupational classification sends a clear signal: in the face of growing demand for elderly-friendly renovations, we need a more professional, standardized, and specialized workforce.

Before this new occupation emerged, who was doing the work of elderly-friendly renovation designers? What does their work involve, and how did they enter this field? Let us get closer to elderly-friendly renovation practitioners and see how they ‘diagnose and treat’ seniors’ homes.

N Options for the Bathroom

Home Elderly-Friendly Renovation Is Harder Than Expected

L-shaped and U-shaped grab bars were installed beside the toilet, a foldable shower stool was placed under the showerhead, and a ramp mat was laid at the bathroom doorway to eliminate the height difference… A year ago, at his son’s insistence, the bathroom of Mr. Yu, a resident of Jinan, underwent an ‘upgrade and renovation.’ Although the renovation project was small, it completely transformed the elderly man’s toilet and bathing experience. ‘The main issue is that my legs have no strength—I can’t stand or walk for long periods. With these few items, I can even shower longer than before,’ said Mr. Yu.

The person who proposed renovation suggestions for Grandpa Yu’s bathroom was Fan Haiqing, a designer with 6 years of experience in age-friendly renovation. In 2020, Fan Haiqing moved from a commercial interior design company to Shandong Yizhen Elderly Care Service Group Co., Ltd., specializing in age-friendly renovation design, and currently serves as the company’s design director.

‘Even though they are all age-friendly renovations, the design plans provided for elderly care institutions and home living are very different,’ Fan Haiqing said. Age-friendly renovation design plans for elderly care institutions are more likely to form fixed models. By analyzing the physical conditions of the elderly residents, corresponding spatial models can be designed in different zones, and age-friendly products can be equipped. However, age-friendly renovation design for home life requires not only a comprehensive understanding of the elderly person’s physical condition, living habits, and daily movement routes, but also design and renovation based on the original space of the house, placing higher demands on the designer’s abilities.

Eliminate height differences at doorways; slope mats can be laid

Take solving the height difference at the bathroom doorway as an example. Bathrooms in elderly care institutions generally have basic standards, so whether building a new ramp at the doorway or removing the threshold, neither is difficult. However, the home bathroom environment is more complex. Many elderly people’s homes were built in the 1980s and 1990s, and bathroom and hallway spaces are limited, so many conventional solutions cannot be copied directly. ‘We encountered a situation where the passage in front of an elderly person’s bathroom was too narrow to lay a ramp, so we changed our approach. While the elderly person could still move their legs reasonably well, we added a vertical handrail at the bathroom doorway to help them lift their legs when stepping into the bathroom,’ Fan Haiqing said.

Qi Juntao, head of Shandong Youdian Health Industry Co., Ltd. (referred to as ‘Youdian Care’), also feels deeply about the complexity of home age-friendly renovation. ‘We have undertaken the construction of home-based elderly care beds in many places, and almost all are one household, one plan. Spatial renovation and the provision of age-friendly products must be carried out according to the specific circumstances of the elderly person,’ Qi Juntao said. Detailed household assessment and research are an important foundation for carrying out age-friendly renovation, and this tests the assessors’ physical stamina, observation skills, and mental acuity.

No directly corresponding major

Age-friendly renovation practitioners come from a wide range of backgrounds

In contrast to the growing demand for age-friendly renovation, at present almost no domestic colleges or universities offer majors related to age-friendly renovation design. This has also led to age-friendly renovation practitioners coming from a wide range of backgrounds, with most having not received systematic education.

This can also be seen from the professional experiences of Fan Haiqing and Qi Juntao. Fan Haiqing majored in interior design in university and found a job in her field after graduation, mainly undertaking interior design work for workplaces such as hotels and office buildings. In 2020, due to a chance opportunity, she entered the field of age-friendly renovation design. Although she was still doing design work, many aspects had changed.

“I had never been exposed to age-friendly renovation design before, so I started learning from the national standard ‘Code for Design of Residential Buildings for the Elderly.'” Fan Haiqing reviewed her self-study process. She first carried out design planning in accordance with national standards, learning while working and accumulating initial experience. Then she participated in industry exchanges, gaining more knowledge about age-friendly renovation design by swapping experience with frontline practitioners. Finally, Fan Haiqing also subscribed to the official accounts of domestic experts in elderly architectural design, following and learning long-term from the various courses and lectures posted there.

Fan Haiqing subscribed to the official accounts of domestic experts in elderly architectural design

Fan Haiqing is undoubtedly one of the typical representatives of age-friendly renovation practitioners. At present, many architectural designers or interior designers, seeing the market potential of age-friendly renovation, actively choose to change careers and enter this entirely new field. Thanks to their design foundation, they can transition relatively faster and better adapt to the demand for customized design solutions, but they still need to make up for a large amount of professional content, such as the physiological and psychological characteristics of the elderly and the parameters of age-friendly products.

In addition to practitioners from the design field, many others come from related fields such as elderly care and rehabilitation medicine. Qi Juntao originally worked in community elderly care services. In the process of providing long-term care for the elderly, he keenly discovered that the elderly care field had increasingly high requirements for age-friendly environments, yet could not find professional service teams to connect with, so he gradually led his team to expand into this business segment. “We mainly undertake the construction of home-based elderly care beds, which have relatively clear requirements for age-friendly renovation, and we can carry out renovations based on the requirements listed in the project list and the feelings of the elderly,” Qi Juntao said.

Practitioners from different backgrounds have brought diverse experience and also led the industry to form a growth path of “exploring through practice while accumulating and summarizing.” Many practitioners admit that most industry knowledge comes from accumulated hands-on project experience. The needs of different families vary greatly, and only by encountering more individual cases can one summarize more practical design experience.

The homes of 300 million elderly people

More professionals needed for ‘consultation and prescription’

Although orders for age-friendly renovations are growing year by year, in Fan Haiqing’s view, China’s age-friendly renovation market is still in its infancy. Against this backdrop, people can accumulate experience through ‘learning by doing and doing while learning,’ and thereby complete renovation orders. However, as the demand for age-friendly renovations becomes increasingly widespread, ‘self-taught success’ will find it difficult to meet real-world needs. Many industry insiders also admit that without professional and systematic training, designers will inevitably face a fragmented capability of ‘understanding design but not elderly care, understanding elderly care but not design.’

In terms of talent cultivation, some explorations have already begun. Suzhou Art & Design Technology Institute founded the first age-friendly design industry college among domestic higher vocational colleges in 2023. In April this year, the third training class for age-friendly environment improvement engineers, co-hosted by the Qingdao Intelligent Rehabilitation Assistive Devices Association and the Beijing Rehabilitation Assistive Devices Association, was held in Qingdao, dedicated to cultivating professionals with three core capabilities: assessment of functional impairment in the elderly, scientific adaptation of age-friendly assistive devices, and design of home-based age-friendly solutions.

Now, giving official recognition to age-friendly renovation designers at the national level has also injected a shot in the arm for relevant practitioners. ‘In the future, if unified professional standards and training specifications can be introduced, we will be able to improve our professional capabilities in a more targeted way, ultimately allowing the elderly to enjoy more thoughtful design services,’ said Fan Haiqing.

Source: Dazhong Daily Disclaimer: This platform is dedicated to industry sharing and exchange, and the articles do not represent the platform’s views. Copyright belongs to the original author. If there are errors in the source attribution or infringement of your lawful rights and interests, please contact us, and we will promptly correct or delete it. Thank you.

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