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JANE SLADE talks to Nigel Welby, CEO of Retirement Villages, about his plans to extend and expand the group’s villages

Building large retirement villages, particularly in rural areas, makes sense for active retirees looking for an environment that offers a wide choice of things to do, lots of people to meet and space to enjoy.

Nigel Welby, CEO of the specialist retirement property group Retirement Villages, believes there are many advantages in buying or renting apartments and cottages in a Retirement Villages development, not least because of the care facilities they offer including extra care apartments for those who need more support and on-site care/nursing homes for those needing more help. This means that if people get ill or are unable to care for themselves they don’t have to move again and couples don’t have to be separated.

Charters Village in East Grinstead

Charters Village in East Grinstead, East Sussex is the newest addition to the Retirement Villages’s portfolio, which now extends to 14 villages across the UK.

Eight villages provide on-site care homes and the others offer domiciliary care with full-time care staff on site. retirement care

Charters Village’s opening last year marked the completion of 33 apartments, six chalet bungalows and a 60-bed nursing, residential, dementia and day-care centre.

Designed for the over 65s a second phase of 46 one-and-two-bedroom apartments is now under construction on the 16-acre site as well as three one-bedroom bungalows.

Mr Welby acknowledges that Retirement Villages has to cater to very wide age group which has varying expectations and needs.

“Chronological age is irrelevant,” he says. “Some people as young as 55 can be thinking of moving into a retirement village while others can be in their 80s and 90s – in fact the chairman of one of our residents’ associations is well into his nineties and is sharp as a button. It’s all a state of mind.”

One thing that has changed over the years is demand for extra domiciliary care. “This is what differentiates us from other operators,” adds Mr Welby. “We provide domiciliary care in a more upmarket fashion.

“We offer villages with care rather than care homes,” Mr Welby emphasises. “We provide domiciliary care which is not on an ad hoc basis where someone calls in for 20 minutes twice a day. We employ permanent salaried staff who are on site so you see the same person every day.

“We sell a variety of care packages including cleaning, shopping, washing so people can be in control of what they spend and what they need. Looking 10 years ahead we see providing extra care as a big growth area.”

retirement-villages-barRetirement Villages’s Elmbridge Village is one of the largest retirement communities in the country with 236 bungalows and apartments near Cranleigh in Surrey.

Set within 28 acres of landscaped grounds, there is a croquet lawn and village pond, allotments and gardens. A new club house featuring a bar, restaurant, library, shop and surgery is now being built as well as 39 extra-care apartments for those who need more support.

[pullquote1 quotes=”true” align=”right” variation=”blue“]We provide domiciliary care in a more upmarket fashion[/pullquote1]

At Moat Park in Essex 26 apartments designed for independent living have been completed priced from £225,000 for a one bed and £350,000 for a two bed. Permission is now being sought for more cottages and an additional 12 rooms to be added to the on-site care home, increasing it to 72 beds.

In the mean time an expansion programme is underway at Roseland Parc near Truro where there are plans for eight further apartments and at Lime Tree Village in Warwickshire 44 two-and-three-bedroom apartments priced from £373,950 have just been launched.

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“It is more economic for us to find opportunities for expanding our existing villages and adding facilities,” says Welby. “It’s simpler for us to make an existing village bigger. It’s also better for residents as bigger communities encourage more dynamic social interaction. We can also lower our service charges as the fixed costs of running the village and communal facilities are spread between more residents.”

For more information about properties to buy or rent and facilities available at a Retirement Villages development visit www.retirementvillages.co.uk

 

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