UK: Later living provider and operator Inspired Villages has completed the purchase of a 27-acre site in Edenbridge, Kent.
The deal is the latest for the £500 million joint venture between NatWest Pension Group Fund and Legal & General, through which it plans to open 34 integrated retirement communities (IRC), providing more than 5,000 homes for around 8,000 people.
The former golf course site was occupied by the Kent and Surrey Golf Club and has planning permission for 184,000 square feet of accommodation including a 100-unit IRC.
Inspired completed the purchase of the site within a six-week period and will now consult locally on revisions to the existing permission including a range of facilities the wider community can benefit from, including a restaurant and wellness suite.
Inspired Villages aims to “improve the holistic wellbeing for the over 65s and support them in living healthier, independent lives for longer”.
It currently has eight operational villages located across the UK, with a further three sites under construction, including the country’s first net zero carbon IRC, Millfield Green, which will open this Autumn.
Neal Dale, chief development & property officer for Inspired Villages, said: “We welcome the addition of Edenbridge to our portfolio of sites and are excited by its potential in a popular and thriving location for us. We are keen to start progressing plans for the village here whilst raising awareness and gaining support from the local community. The provision of this type of age-appropriate accommodation is of wider benefit as it naturally frees up housing stock throughout every element of the property ladder.
“The sense of holistic wellbeing and community we seek to create within our villages also proves beneficial to the surrounding areas where we are currently operating. Our Inspired Friendships programme is already well-established in Kent and seeks to reduce loneliness and isolation of those not just living with a village, but the wider community also. Edenbridge is part of our wider business vision to open 34 sites as we embark on a mission to become the leading retirement community operator in the UK, with communities that are flourishing and residents living the best years of their lives,” he added.
