Since joining in April, I have led a restructure of the Later Living business and revisited the business plan to ensure we have the right skills and strategy to accelerate the delivery of later living solutions.
I’m delighted to be in the position of leading the Later Living business right now because this business is in an excellent position to make a huge difference in the availability of age appropriate housing to meet the growing demand of our increasingly ageing population. Working with our partners, we will be investing in shaping the future provision of homes fit for old age and with access to services which people need to support our customers through later life. And supported by our parent company Lovell Partnerships Ltd (part of the Morgan Sindall Group), we will create communities which nurture and support against unprecedented challenges like COVID and the pandemic which cannot be cured, climate change, by shaping places that promote wellbeing for people in later life by focusing on the environment we create through design excellence and zero-carbon infrastructure.
The appointment of some of the industrys most knowledgeable and experienced individuals to join me on the Later Living senior leadership team, including; former Home Group Head of Development Teresa Snaith, former Commercial Director at Lovell Major Projects Neil Hicklin and former Development Director of Morgan Sindall Investments David Lane, places the business and our partners in safe hands.
Collaboratively with our partners internal and external, we intend to influence, shape and accelerate the delivery of appropriate housing and specialist accomodation for older people. The next 5yr business plan focuses on investing in innovative products and delivery solutions driven by customer voice, to benefit our partnerships with local authorities, registered providers, private operators, delivering to our customers expectations and aspirations. Shaping places which put later life at the heart of the planning, to support people across the UK to live life to the full and age well in appropriate housing and care communities.
Through engagement and coproduction with our partners and customers, we will continue to inform the real needs and aspirations to deliver better design and by focussing on innovation, the future adaptability and sustainability of the building, we will deliver desirable homes ‘now’ which can flex and adapt to the changing needs of customers as they age.
We intend to be instrumental in changing the horizon for older people in this country. Whether people are at the stage in life to benefit from Lifelong (open market) homes, Extra Care Housing, Specialist Registered Care homes, our focus is to build homes that will inspire people to right size at the right time, rather than be forced to downsize when life changes forcing a more urgent response.
Research continues to repeat the same messages and evidence that:
– 1 in 4 people over 60 years old are interested and or looking to move into what can be their last home
– People aged 65 years and over will increase by 47% and aged 85 years and over will increase by 87.5% in the next 15 years
And recent surveys reveal 4 in 10 (44%) of people aged 65 and over believe the government should be doing more to encourage rightsizing / downsizing equal to circa 5.3m people across the UK.
We all acknowledge, the many difficulties highlighted by the pandemic, loneliness and isolation, restricted care in the community and infection control, all impacting many peoples lives over the past 18 months. But these challenges existed for many before the pandemic where older people couldn’t access the homes or services they needed to live independently and well, because as a society we have failed to build communities and homes fit for old age for decades. The pandemic also clearly demonstrated just how important communities are in us supporting each other in times of crisis and some inspiring stories of community sacrifice and innovation have hit the media headlines over the period, which we can embrace and replicate in the communities we deliver. Now more than ever the focus from all tenures is not only the need for swift action in developing age appropriate, adaptable, future proof homes but also on just how essential it is to create inclusive communities for people to enjoy growing old with peace of mind and security.
So now more than ever we need action, we need commitment to innovation, commitment to investment and commitment to working collaboratively in partnership to make things happen and we look forward to working with all the regions of Lovell to meet these needs, creating aspirational communities and sustainable, accessible housing for the UK’s aging population.
Thank you for reading and we look forward to working with you.