Audley Group and Senior Living Investment Partners (SLIP), have acquired a plot within the Brent Cross Town masterplan to develop a new retirement village.
SLIP is a £200million partnership between Pension Insurance Corporation plc (‘PIC’), a specialist insurer of defined benefit pension schemes, and real estate lender and investor, Octopus Real Estate. This scheme will mark SLIP’s third retirement community investment and the second with Audley Group following the acquisition of the Headley Court site in Leatherhead, Surrey in July 2023.
The joint venture will develop a new retirement village as part of Audley Group’s Mayfield Villages. Brent Cross Town will be the second Mayfield Village and the first in London, with the aim of bringing contemporary retirement living to the area and giving more people more choice over how and where they live as they get older.
The site will deliver 147 retirement units along with 14,627 sq. ft. of amenities and form part of the Brent Cross Town development, a 180-acre masterplan managed by Brent Cross South Limited Partnership, being delivered through a 50/50 partnership between Barnet Council and the developer Related Argent (‘RA’). Brent Cross Town is among Europe’s largest urban regeneration projects and, once completed, will become one of the largest net zero developments in the UK, with nearly 7,000 new homes, 3 million sq. ft. of offices, a high street and schools surrounded by 50 acres of parks and playing fields.
SLIP continues to focus on developing a portfolio of new, high-quality, retirement communities nationwide. It aims to house up to 2,000 people in the coming years across ten IRC developments to help address the current undersupply and increasing demand from an ageing population in the UK.
Nick Sanderson, CEO of Audley Group said: “The demand for retirement villages continues to grow, and with an ageing population there is an urgent need to build more units. Brent Cross Town will be our second Mayfield village, and I’m delighted to work with our JV partners and with Related Argent and Barnet Council to meet that demand in north London. Mixed-use developments which include integrated retirement living are vital to creating vibrant, intergenerational communities.”
Bryony Harrap, PIC capital senior strategy manager, said: “The creation of new communities through large-scale regeneration projects is completely consistent with PIC’s purposeful investment strategy. Our investment in the retirement village is one piece of the jigsaw that will allow the provision of new homes, jobs and living spaces for the people of Brent Cross. Working closely with our joint venture partner Octopus Real Estate and leading retirement village provider Audley Group, we continue to play our part in meeting the twin challenges of an ageing population and an undersupply of appropriate housing while also providing long-term secure investments which underpin the pensions we pay to our policyholders.”
Tom Goodall, managing director of Related Argent, added: “Securing the right partner for our senior living offer at Brent Cross Town was extremely important to us. We are creating one of the largest town centre developments across Europe and providing homes and amenities for all ages is critical to its success. We are pleased to welcome a joint venture of this calibre that brings extensive expertise in the sector and demonstrates the strength of Brent Cross Town which continues to attract significant inward investment.”
Kevin Beirne, head of retirement at Octopus Real Estate, said: “To have an IRC at the centre of such an impactful regeneration project is a fantastic result for the wider later living sector. The net zero credentials of this scheme are laudable, and demonstrate our commitment to helping the UK meet its net zero by 2050 target. It’s fitting too that a retirement village benefits from this; older people spend more time in their homes than any other cohort. The efficiency of these new homes will deliver real value for residents in the form of thermal comfort and lower energy bills.”
“Through our SLIP partnership with PIC, we aim to deliver some of the highest quality developments the later living sector has ever seen, with a drive towards both carbon efficiency and significant health and wellbeing benefits for the UK’s older population. This scheme is a great example of that.”
