South Australian Not For Profit retirement living, residential aged care, and home care provider, Resthaven, which is associated with the Uniting Church, has appointed the former CEO of Warrina Homes, Matthew Cragg (left), as its first Retirement Living Operations manager to consolidate recent village acquisitions and to assist the group in developing a strategic plan.

In January, Resthaven acquired 12 small retirement villages in the Adelaide suburbs from South Australian Not For Profit ACH Group. The acquisitions comprised 123 units in total.

In 2021, Resthaven acquired On Statenborough in the Adealide suburb of Leabrook, which was developed by Simon Chappel, Managing Director of construction services and civil group PT Building Services, and David Smallacombe, Managing Director of real estate agency Smallacombe Group.

Resthaven’s third acquisition was in early 2022, when it purchased Chiton Retirement Living, on the Fleurieu Peninsula, from KeyInvest.

Consolidation of the acquisitions is "progressing really well,” Resthaven CEO Darren Birbeck (right) told The SOURCE. A small team of “key people” have been working on the integration and on meeting the expectations of new residents.

“In the last month we've recruited a retirement living operations manager. The idea is that he'll further consolidate the villages and develop a strategic plan,” Darren said.

Resthaven has also moved community services into the retirement living operations, whereas it formerly sat under residential aged care.

"We provide a lot of services into retirement villages through our community services operations so it was a good chance to align those two things,” Darren said.