65% of 2,400 retirement villages nationwide were built before the year 2000 and many of those urgently need to be refurbished or redeveloped.
Local councils throughout the nation process development applications, including those of retirement villages, and this expensive and time-consuming process is a key sticking point for village operators.
Daniel Gannon, the Executive Director of the Retirement Living Council, knows that relations between village owners and local councils have to improve.
The Retirement Living Council, an arm of the Property Council, has now issued a “Supplementary Guide to Political Engagement: A Focus on Local Government” to village managers and owners on how to improve relations with local councils, which you can access in full at the bottom of the story.
DCM Group CEO Chris Baynes last month hosted Stanton Dahl Architects’ Renovate or Detonate webinar last month. Calum Ross, Head of Development, Levande, told the webinar (also see below) an operator would need to double their revenue if they decided on a rebuild of a facility.
“Then we look to how far we can drive up the density. Those two key metrics come together to work through as to the commercial viability of an opportunity that we see,” he said.
To illustrate the point, Not for Profit Vasey Communities demolished its 50 year old village Parkview, with 55 units, at Waitara, 18km northwest of Sydney’s CBD, and built a 117 apartment tower on the site, Kokoda Residences, which opened in September last year.
The RLC says it is “good politics for local councillors to proactively support the delivery of more affordable age-friendly housing choices in their communities”.
“It is difficult to contemplate a form of development that could be more ‘sustainable’ than retirement housing,” Daniel told the SOURCE.
“With the average age of Australian retirement villages approaching 25 years, combined with land supply and cost issues, there must be an increasing number of village redevelopments.
“An increase in housing choices suitable for older people where they can maintain links to family and friends and retain ties to the local community will encourage senior homeowners to downsize. This, in turn, recycles existing, often larger, houses for younger households.”
To read the “Supplementary Guide to Political Engagement: A Focus on Local Government” click here.
Watch Renovate or Detonate webinar in full below.
