A Birmingham-based retirement company is working on a £200 million retirement village plan, which it claims will revolutionise how the elderly are cared for.
The scheme, a partnership between a charity and the private sector is preparing to open its third retirement village in Birmingham.
The ExtraCare Charitable Trust’s Hagley Road Village in Edgbaston will open its doors on October 3, a development with 240 apartments available to buy, part-own or rent.
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Its completion marks the half-way point for a £200 million scheme in partnership with Birmingham City Council that aims to create more than 1,000 apartments and transform accommodation choices for the elderly in the city.
With the authorities being overwhelmed by the challenges caused by an ageing population, ExtraCare’s chief executive Nick Abbey told the Post the public-charity link up should be expanded.
The charity is set to provide at least five retirement villages in Birmingham but is already hoping to create six or possibly even more.
Mr Abbey said: “Birmingham is paving the way but the country needs an awful lot more like this and at the moment it is really only us that are doing it. People say where is the one in London or Southampton? The country needs more and there should be more people doing what we do in other places. I know it would work extremely well elsewhere, particularly in the south of England.”
The charity, which was born out of the Coventry Churches Housing Association and is now part of Midland Heart, is currently constrained in terms of operating within a 90-minute drive from Birmingham or Coventry.
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Mr Abbey said it is keen to expand its activities as it feels there is a need.
He said: “We would like to have them all over the country. I think the company will continue to grow and our board is wondering whether to extend the 90-minute drive time area – but you have to get the money right and get the plans right.”
Birmingham’s first ExtraCare village opened in New Oscott in 2010, with the second one, Panel Croft, opening in Newtown in 2012.
A fourth, Bournville Gardens, is set to open in 2015 with a further one earmarked for Hall Green. ExtraCare also hope to build one in Longbridge.
The villages offer a mixture of apartments to buy, part-own or rent, but rather than nursing homes or traditional sheltered accommodation the aim is to create thriving communities with a range of facilities and activities.
With each village costing around £40 million to build ExtraCare aims to recoup around three-quarters of the cost through initial sales, though thus far this has not proved a problem with the villages “selling out” before opening.
Facilities include restaurants, shops and gymnasiums, with activities on offer aiming to appeal to a wide range of tastes and interests.
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The aims is to create an environment that Mr Abbey says is more like a country club than a nursing home.
“People say they feel like they’re in a country club or Center Parcs, or a cruise liner as opposed to somewhere where they think I have got to come here but didn’t really want to,” he said.
“But not enough is being done. There are 10 million people over 65 in this country and seven per cent say they are often or always lonely, while five per cent spend Christmas day on their own and six per cent only leave home once a week or less and half of older people say television is their main form of company.
“Yet half of older people say they like volunteering or say they want to take part in civic engagement – people want to get involved in things.
“We know that when people live somewhere they like they live longer lives, are healthier and they are happier because their mental well-being is so much better.”