Stockland gets the tick from new retirement living accreditation scheme

Major retirement living operator Stockland achieves new Lifemark Village Scheme accreditation, as it announces acquisition of eight villages in South Australia 

Stockland has this morning announced its retirement villages have been recognised by the Property Council of Australia, achieving national accreditation under the new Lifemark Village Scheme.

The Lifemark Village Scheme is the new, independent accreditation system that provides quality assurance standards for the independent living sector.

Stockland achieved the Lifemark accreditation across its 49 owned and managed villages and head office, having worked closely with BSI and the Property Council of Australia over a six-month period to meet the accreditation guidelines and requirements.

Professional accreditation body, British Standards Institution, which is the independent auditor for the Lifemark Village Scheme, said the scheme was established to enable retirement living providers to assure the quality of their accommodation against 26 industry standards.

“Lifemark goes well beyond an operator’s legal obligations, recognising that customers and governments expect human service industries to have high operational standards,” said John Krnel, general manager, sales and marketing of BSI.

The scheme has 26 standards, which are divided into six categories of village performance:

• Lifestyle: social activities, transport, resident involvement in decision making
• Support: information, resident orientation, communication, satisfaction
• People/staff: dignity and privacy, performance of employees and volunteers, staff orientation, performance management, people development
• Safety: security, signage, emergency procedures, disaster planning
• Regulations: food and catering, financial arrangements, compliance, occupational health and safety, insurance
• Village policy: dispute resolution, resident meetings, maintenance

Mary Wood, executive director of the Retirement Living Council, said that the Lifemark scheme was created to ensure retirement village owners were accountable and responsive to residents, so residents could be confident their village was run to high standards.

“Senior Australians can trust that a Lifemark accredited village is well governed, comfortable and safe, as the standards are rigorous and applied by independent experts,” Ms Wood told Australian Ageing Agenda.

“We are delighted that Stockland has made this public commitment to excellence by accrediting their villages with Lifemark.”

Stephen Bull, CEO Retirement Living at Stockland, said the accreditation recognised its best practice approach in retirement villages.

“I am a firm believer that by continuing to raise standards across the whole industry, all customers will ultimately benefit. We’ve been collaborating with the PCA and Retirement Living Council to drive the establishment of the Lifemark Village Scheme because it is so important that we set a benchmark and high standard for the homes and villages that older Australians can and should expect to enjoy in retirement,” said Mr Bull.

Stockland also yesterday announced it had exchanged contracts to acquire a portfolio of eight retirement villages in South Australia, which would take the operator’s retirement living business to more than 9,500 homes and apartments across 69 villages in five states, with a value in excess of $1.1 billion.