Cost model: Later living provision

By Alex Hyams, Félicie Krikler and Rory O’Hagan

The later living sector must grow rapidly to support the UK’s ageing population. Alex Hyams of Alinea and Assael Architecture’s Félicie Krikler and Rory O’Hagan consider how to unlock the sector’s potential from a design and location perspective and break down the costs of building a retirement community

01 / Introduction

Data on the supply of UK housing in the recent past tells us clearly that we need to build more. However, despite many government initiatives, the aspirational targets for new homes are being missed by quite some margin. Compounding this are barriers to affordability and accessibility for the younger generation, which have led to the boom in the build-to-rent (BTR) sector and the rise of Generation Rent.

When it comes to the somewhat maligned and misunderstood retirement and care sector, the data overwhelmingly shows a requirement for rapid growth to support the ageing UK population.

An opportunity lies in meeting this demand through the creation of better options for later living and retirement communities that offer attractive places to live, and enhance the sector’s reputation – in a similar way to how BTR has invigorated the private rental sector.

There have been many acclaimed housing market saviours in the recent past, on both the demand and supply sides, including the likes of Help to Buy, stamp duty relaxation and modern methods of construction (MMC) as well as BTR. Although all of these have played a part in the overall goal of home-building targets and improved ways of living, none is a panacea, and even together they have not provided the answer.

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