Retirement Villages Group Ltd

Welcome to our Great Communities, Amazing Lives series, where we invite you to step into the heart of our communities and find out more about the people who make our communities so special. All with their own unique story to tell, what truly brings our residents together is a sense of community and the freedom to live life as they choose. ✨ At RVG we’re on a mission to change outdated perceptions and stereotypes around ageing. Hear more about the vibrant lives from our cast of residents: From the competitive ones to the early risers, friendship makers to quiet creators – there’s a place for everyone across our communities. Find out more about them here: https://lnkd.in/en2RMSrA

As work continues apace at our new integrated retirement community development in Royal Tunbridge Wells, the team have continued to build relationships locally by contributing to the community🛠️🌳. The team recently carried out volunteering efforts for AGE UK TUNBRIDGE WELLS, a local independent charity offering support for older people in the area, including cleaning and tidying up the garden area as well as planting new greenery at their main office & day centre. Eoin, Site Manager, and Sean, Project Surveyor, also presented a donation to Trinity Theatre, a vibrant and cultural arts venue, supporting their re-roofing scheme for their beautiful & historic building where we had the privilege of hosting our Meet The Buyer event not long ago. Part of the new Thrive Living collection by Retirement Villages Group Ltd., the project will deliver 167 new homes as part of the whole-life net zero carbon development. 🔗Discover more about the project: https://bit.ly/44HOWha #WeAreMAR #CommunityEngagement #Volunteering

Great to see Phase 1 works progressing well at Cedars Village; a refurbishment of a Grade II listed English Mansion House. Heritage wood work has been made good and intricate ceilings have been refreshed. We can't wait to see new flooring and wall coverings installed in these key spaces soon! HLM Architects | Retirement Villages Group Ltd Rebecca Gallimore | Fed3 Refurbishments Limited James Rutherford | Inside Limited

We recently celebrated all of Team RVG at our annual summer party. Every year we get together to celebrate what is most important to us – our people and our residents. This year we held the party in the grounds of Charters Village, our beautiful community in East Grinstead. Team RVG came together with residents to celebrate our long service colleagues and annual values awards winners over canapés, drinks, and a BBQ. It was a great day full of sunshine, smiles, and celebration!

Following the King’s Speech earlier this month, I feel it is right to express my support for the new government’s plans to innovate within the housing sector with its Planning and Infrastructure Bill. As the UK's largest retirement operator in the later living sector, Retirement Villages Group Ltd is a champion of positive and constructive change. We have campaigned tirelessly for reform to support the growth of retirement communities to better support positive choices for older people and this is news that we very much welcome. The new Bill marks a pivotal moment in the next phase of planning reform. It not only highlights the need to improve local planning decision-making by modernising planning committees, but it also calls to increase the capacity within local planning authorities.  The current approach to planning and housing at a local level is inconsistent, with many local authorities lacking plans to support the development of housing for older people at all, despite Britain's ageing population. Therefore, I hope the proposed changes will quickly streamline the delivery process and fast track the critical infrastructure projects required to improve housing in the UK. With a comprehensive reform in planning, we can ensure that our other key initiatives, such as our new customer contract mentioned below, can drive a positive shift for the sector. Together both will help address the chronic shortfall of age appropriate housing with a product to meet customer's demands. The Thrive Living collection is our new generation of urban, socially connected, sustainable retirement communities. The first of these opens this November in Chester (The Wyldewoods), followed shortly by West Byfleet (Botanical Place) next year and Tunbridge Wells in 2026. These schemes provide simple, certain, and affordable way for our customers to buy, live in, and sell their homes. We fully expect these schemes to set a new benchmark for the IRC sector.

Today, we issued an announcement that Will Bax, Chief Executive, is to step down from his role after five years leading RVG. He will be replaced by Tim Seddon, Chief Property Officer, who has worked closely alongside Will as an Executive Director at RVG, since March 2020.   As a member of the Executive Team, Tim has, at different times, been responsible for development, property services and sales & marketing. In his new role as CEO, Tim will focus on business continuity working with the Executive and Senior Leadership Team to deliver the current strategy.    Under Will’s leadership, RVG has been a passionate advocate for change in the later living sector, including the introduction of greater consumer protections, the need for planning reform to support the delivery of housing with care, and challenging ageism.   Under Tim’s leadership, RVG will continue to focus on delivering an excellent experience for its residents with the advancement of the later living sector. To support a smooth transition, Will is to stay with the business as counsel for Tim until early September, as he takes on the CEO role with immediate effect.   We will miss Will and wish him the best in his new role.    You can read the full statement here https://lnkd.in/edzbb-uu

Time for change... As expected, we awake to a new Government this morning. A Government with an overwhelming mandate for change. There is no doubt that the last 8 years have been extraordinarily difficult for Britain. Regardless of your views on the issue, the Brexit referendum marked a watershed moment for our country and triggered a time of extraordinary volatility, compounded by global events. As a business leader I’ve felt consistently anxious and frustrated by the challenge of operating in a climate where our politics have lacked critical focus on the big domestic issues. The issues that are so central to the health of our communities; growth, housing, healthcare and social care. As the political landscape shifts my ask of Keir Starmer is to raise the bar of public discourse. To put hope and positive action alongside one another. To move on from the inward looking, hopeless politics of decay, immigration and dislocation and share a vision for the country that puts community and long term health and prosperity at the heart of our national conversation. From RVG’s perspective, we are calling for a deeper engagement on how we can play our part in solving one of the major root causes of so many challenges facing us in terms of housing, heath and social care; Ageing. Our ageing society creates extraordinary pressures in the short, medium and longer term. Government statistics forecast an additional 8.6 million elders over the age of 65 by 2070. Equivalent to a city the size of London. The knock on effect is a shrinking workforce, lower tax take and greater dependency on heath and social care systems. But it can be different. And one easy step Government can take is to unlock the delivery of better housing solutions for our elders. With policy that supports us to build more integrated retirement communities, introduce stronger consumer protection and incentivise people to move. So, I’ll keep banging the drum, in the hope that Keir acts on his message of change. But I ask him to go further and project a more positive vision. A vision for a healthy, happy, prosperous Britain, for everyone, young and old. With communities that are enabled to thrive.

Our final session of #WhatNext2024 is with Will Bax of Retirement Villages Group Ltd, detailing their new Thrive Collective #integratedretirementcommunity model in Chester. Will ran through the benefits of the model, with these being: Affordability - The new Thrive Collective contract is affordable - with low weekly fees, £120 a week, so most older people can afford to live there. Thrive Chester's management fee is fixed upon entry and only rises with inflation. Certainty - management fees are frozen when residents are no longer in their property, and there is a guaranteed price on exit. Simplicity - no sales and administration fees, or refurbishment obligations. It is always great to hear about innovation in the sector, and how our Members have taken on feedback from the wider sector to formulate innovative new models. Thank you, Will!

Retirement Villages Group Ltd's new #integratedretirementcommunity in Chester is testing new ground, with a lease structure which will see customers receiving a guaranteed sum on resale, a cap on ongoing fees after a unit has been vacated and a subsidised monthly fee. Hear from Retirement Village Group’s chief executive, Will Bax, at our #WhatNext2024 Conference on how the offer was developed and early feedback from customers. With just six days to go, grab one of the last few conference tickets here: https://lnkd.in/eCYKuEqq