The new black in retirement living

Integrated housing & care is the new benchmark for ‘seniors housing’ & retirement living – in Australia & much of the western world, says the founder & CEO of the UK’s luxe Audley Retirement, who is visiting Australia this September.

Above: Audley Retirement’s luxury Mote House in Kent, United Kingdom.

By Keryn Curtis

“My absolute view is that the UK is full of terrible care homes and if I have an objective, it is to explore every way we possibly can to help people to retain and not lose their independence. […] Whether you live in a council flat or a million pound mansion, the issues are the same.” Nick Sanderson, CEO Audley Retirment, United Kingdom.

Once the prime domain of property developers refusing to counter mentions of ‘care’, let alone consider providing it, the retirement living industry in Australia is undergoing something of a revolution.

The ‘service integrated housing’ concept – where purpose designed housing for older people comes with flexible but optional support and care services – has grown rapidly in the last five years.  Commercial and not for profit providers alike are embracing the model, challenging assumptions about design and location and navigating new paths through the urban planning regulatory maze.

Janice Chia, founder and CEO of Singapore headquartered business, research and training consultancy, Ageing Asia Pty Ltd, has been a key investigator and proponent of the concept worldwide for several years.

Ms Chia’s mission is to “change the way future generations of elderly age in Asia, by engaging the business community to create better products and services that will enable healthy, independent and dignified ageing.” Toward this goal she has brought several international leaders in the field to the Australasian region to promote knowledge sharing, including Dr Hans Becker, chair of the iconic Humanitas Foundation in the Netherlands, with its Apartments for Life model of seniors living; and in 2012 the CEO of the UK’s successful ExtraCare Charitable Trust, Mr Nick Abbey.

Above: Nick Sanderson, Founder and CEO of Audley Retirement

This year Ageing Asia is touring a master class with another dynamic leader in the still-fledgling UK retirement living industry. Nick Sanderson is CEO of Audley Retirement which has a growing suite of highly successful independent living seniors’ housing projects aimed at the more luxury end of the market.

A professional colleague of ExtraCare Charitable Trust’s Nick Abbey, Nick Sanderson says Audley Retirement operates the same model of healthy ageing and independent living with home delivered care and support as ExtraCare Charitable Trust does – just for a different market slice.     

“ExtraCare Charitable Trust is aimed at the more affordable segment of the market. We are at the premium end,” says Mr Sanderson.

Having said that, Mr Sanderson says the size of that market is still small, relative to the size of the population and especially relative to the market in Australia.

“Australia has 160,000 retirement living units whereas there are only 15,000 retirement living units across the whole UK, despite having a population three times the size.  So we are a long way behind Australia in terms of scale.”

 “The British are reluctant to embrace change,” he says. “They are conservative, particularly when it comes to housing – they will tend to stay in their home until it falls down around them.

“The idea of that term, ‘right sizing’ – adjusting to another home to better meet your needs – that hasn’t happened in the UK. We’ve not been good in this country at providing options. The tradition has been, if you couldn’t care for yourself, you went to a care home.”

Above: Luxe lifestyle at Audley’s Mote House

A clean market slate

While it may be a fairly undeveloped market, the high occupancy rates, increasing demand for new units and strong commercial profitability figures point to a big potential and there are no doubt advantages in a clean slate.

“A lot of people come to us and they have been to Australia, to the Gold Coast or to Florida and they’re interested in the concept of that kind of community,” said Mr Sanderson.

“The scale and style of those typical retirement villages is not consistent with the British tradition so we tend to work with traditional older buildings where there is that recognisable heritage.

“It is all about having that familiar heritage quality and convincing people that there are other care options. And with the economy beginning to show signs of recovery, it means more people are able to sell their homes. It’s going well,” he said.  “ And then there is a new generation of people coming through who are less conservative.”

The importance of care

Mr Sanderson says he looks forward to sharing details of Audley Retirement’s successful luxury seniors housing projects and, importantly, the model of care for ageing-in-place and delivering home care services. 

“It can be quite challenging for people to adapt.  You have to encourage people and explore with people how far you can go to support them in their own homes.

“We have basic domiciliary services and we have emergency services too.  We say to people, you can have half an hour of housework a day or a week or you can go right up to having live-in carers.

“I came originally from the care sector and I gradually saw that care homes actually weren’t appropriate for most people.

“My absolute view is that the UK is full of terrible care homes and if I have an objective, it is to explore every way we possibly can to help people to retain and not lose their independence.  That should be possible in the right environment. Health and well being is very much a part of that with regular assessments and health programs as well as social activity,” said Mr Sanderson.

“Whether you live in a council flat or a million pound mansion, the issues are the same.”

It cuts both ways

Veterans of previous Ageing Asia master classes will be familiar with the highly interactive nature of the full day program which has been has been developed in consultation with both Nick Sanderson and industry leaders in Australia. 

Mr Sanderson says the dynamic of providing adaptive housing and support to older people to meet their changing needs as they age is more or less the same in the UK as the US, South Africa, India, China and a range of other countries and he looks forward to sharing and discussing his own UK experience.

“But this is an interactive opportunity. It’s a two way street, so it will be interesting to compare and discuss the Australian experience. There are a lot of cultural similarities between the UK and Australia,” he said.

Fact file:

Ageing Asia Leadership Series is hosting master classes with Mr Nick Sanderson in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane on the following dates: 

9 September – Sydney
11 September – Melbourne
13 September – Brisbane 

For further information or to register please go to Ageing Asia Leadership Series website or email Sylwin Ang at sylwinang@ageingasiainvest.com

Tags: ageing-asia, audley-retirement, janice-chia, master-class, nick-abbey, nick-sanderson, retirement-living,

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