The English Courtyard Association
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The English Courtyard Association (ECA) is a not-for-profit organisation which provides and manages high quality retirement housing for the independently minded under the watchful and caring eye of its Managing Director, Charles Clayton, who monitors standards and ensures they are maintained. On 1 January 2010 The English Courtyard Association merged with The Beechcroft Trust - the only organisation in the UK that had similar roots, background and ethos - to form a new management company COGNATUM Ltd (which means "bringing together"). The new company has Charles Clayon as its Managing Director, who was previously Managing Director of The Association, having worked for the company for 19 years. The original inspiration for the Association and its philosophy came over 30 years ago from Noel Shuttleworth, the founder and former Chairman of the Association and now Life President of Cognatum Ltd. Searching for accommodation for his widowed mother, he could not find anywhere with a reasonable size of living space in pleasant surroundings close to shops and other facilities, where she could remain fully independent and feel secure. The ideas for the English Courtyard Association were born. Traditional Courtyard Plan
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The original concept was based on the traditional courtyard plan of almshouses with the relationship of the buildings to the space around them of great importance. Today there are 36 individual sites across the country.