The term ‘retirement community’ somehow smacks of gelato coloured demountables lined up, cheek by jowl, in a gated reserve, in ‘gator ridden, Florida. However, a little education goes a long way – and visions of pastel semi-wides could not be further from the truth. The epitome of opulence, of good taste and refined design now dominate the retirement sector, and it’s making ageing a very sexy option.

“Our target market,” says Kevin Ryan,” didn’t have retirement living on their radar, until they saw out product.” Kevin is the managing director of Waterbrook Lifestyle Resort, a brand well known in the growing, (what one might call ‘executive’) sector of retirement property. The soon to be opened Waterbrook Bowral is what could only be called a showstopper.

Set in 42 acres of historic and beautiful grounds, the future of Waterbrook Bowral includes 135 low rise dwellings, and a range of recreational and social-hub buildings that include facilities such as a cinema, art studio, spa, library, billiards room, a beauty salon, chapel, woodwork spaces and of course, an indoor pool the likes of which Hilton would approve. You could, as a potential resident, be looking at a move-in cost of over $2m.

In Bowral (or anywhere else in Australia) you won’t find a house with those facilities under the $10m mark. And while Waterbrook Bowral is a blinding example of what can be achieved in ‘later lifestyle’ residential design, it’s not unique.

Steve Zappia of Marchese Partners is essentially a global expert in the field of what is also called L3 residential design.

“We’ve managed to carve ourselves a bit of a niche in that space,” says Zappia, “it [retirement living] is something that is relevant around the world.”

With eight international offices, and a string of hugely successful and award winning properties now completed from China to the UK, it still surprises him that he has become a specialist in a field he didn’t even consider as a life’s work.

“Ah, definitely not. It is interesting, it was never a fashionable part of the market, dominated perhaps by an older school of designers who had a particular way of doing things, and there was a perception that older generations (of residents) wanted stuff in an older style.”

Abandoning what he saw as the style of ‘faux federation’, the now leader in the later living sector, turned the concept of what retirement should look like, and forged ahead into contemporary design, suited to a less modest generation.

“It’s a generational shift’ says Zappia. The developers recognise that buyers are now well travelled, digitally experienced and for want of a better expression, spoiled.

Bill Etheridge and his wife came from comfortable home in Sydney’s Balgowlah where the median price (according to realestate.com) is $3.5m, before they started their search for a retirement option.

“We were looking for essentially an upmarket retirement village,” says Etheridge, and eventually they came across the glossy and impressive renderings of what Waterbrook was promising. Impressed by the combination of design, lifestyle and location, they bought in.

“I can’t think of an equivalent in Australia,” he adds. It has taken years for the property to come to fruition, beset by issues well outside of Etheridge's influence, but he hopes they will be ‘in’ by Christmas.

Beyond the ‘imaginative’ and ‘creative’ appeal of the property, Etheridge alludes to what many retirees desire. After a lifetime of working hard, they want to have some control over their environment, including who their neighbours will be.

Caption: Waterbrook Bowral

“A lot of professionals are here; doctors, solicitors, there’s even a judge and a banker,’ says Bill. Plus, here there is no threat of a developer buying the house next door and plonking down an overcrowded row of townhouses. And finally, they appreciate the fact that there is ‘always someone there for a little back up and support’.

And that is another key to the success of the village concept. Many more people are these days divorced and alone in their later years; kids no longer move into a suburb down the road but are flung to the four corners of the earth, and living longer means that making the effort to socialize is not the fun it once was.

A successful village creates a social construct where meeting people is an easy option; whether a casual meeting at the clubhouse bar, or an informal chat while creating a masterpiece on canvas, fulfils the human need for companionship. It is this need that drives architects to design these ‘easy meet up’ spaces.

The Retirement Living Council of Australia (a division of the Property Council of Australia) recently produced research paper that highlighted the advantages of living a village lifestyle, for both individuals and society as a whole.

The Better Housing for Better Health report found that residents (of which there are 250,000 Australia wide) are 20 percent less likely to require hospitalisation after only nine months in their new home – which avoids 14,000 hospitalisations. Roughly 41 percent are happier, and they are five times more socially active with reduced levels of depression and loneliness. A saving, according to the report, of $5m in additional healthcare costs.

Money and aged care – at all levels – is a minefield. To explain each plan, deal, entitlement, lease, fee and sell-off charge would be a book unto itself (of which I did in fact write for Allen & Unwin back in, well, an age ago… happy to autograph editions for a fee). Suffice to say this is a complex business, where the stakes can be sky high, and close monitoring is ever-present, one way or another.

The rules governing the design for any sort of age related accommodation are strict and enforceable.

“The codes keep improving and the benchmarks are being raised year on year,” says Zappia, who concedes that these improvements, while useful, also have a cost impact.

The turning point in this sector seemed to occur with the presidential $115m Mark Moran Vaucluse property opened (having pre-sold a reported 60 percent of residences by the opening day) in 2016.

That design was of integrated services which incorporated 82 independent living units, but also offered 91 aged care units, and 14 rehabilitation units in the one, very upmarket, blue ribbon Sydney suburb of Vaucluse. It also offered a magnificent spiral staircase and a 1500sqm harbour roof garden with harbour views and is the reported site of the most expensive penthouse in the game, rumoured to be worth $10m.

This design allows for what is rather callously referred to as’ ageing in place’; move in when you still enjoy bridge and banana daiquiris, and stay until it’s more like mahjong and morphine. A sensible option, and one that has existed in various formats, for years but not in this truly ‘in place’ design. Again, the brainchild of Marchese Partners.

“It was an amazing brief,” recalls Zappia. “And the client had a vision to take it to another level, he set us a challenge and I think the project proves what is possible.”

As a contrast to the rolling green lawns of quasi-rural Waterbrook, the Vaucluse project was somewhat confined, which produced challenges in design.

“It was quite a compact building form and we had to do quite a lot of things within that building and we also had to create something dynamic. What we came up with was quite futuristic.”

What they did was create a flexible floor plan within the commercial frame of the building. As residents’ progress through various stages of life, the spaces are flexible enough to cope with new fit outs as required. Another consideration was the need to design a building that would seamlessly fit into the second most expensive suburb in the country.

“We were cognizant of the impact of the building and by curving the frontage of the building we were able to minimise its visual impact – but that also went to toward its sculptural qualities as well,” recalls Steve.

The Australian take up of eligible people living in retirement facilities is roughly 10 percent, (in New Zealand it is in excess of 13 percent), which means 90 percent, for one reason or another, stay clear. Despite that low percentage, the demand is growing exponentially.

The pace at which the population is ageing is picking up with every tick of the clock. The long held belief that the younger generation will always be there to house, protect and support the older generation is being thrown out.

The World Health Organisation has described it in this way; in the year 2020, the number of people aged 60 and over outnumbered children younger than five years. Okay, how about this? By 2030, one in six people in the world will be over 60. That’s market growth.

Most older Australians will try to stay in their homes, and possibly take up government care packages to assist, but waiting times are long and in the meantime, many are sitting on properties that are too big for them, (reducing real estate stock for young families), and property maintenance is slipping. There is a need for more, and varied, retirement living options. This demand will see an increase in specialist architecture.

“It’s a growing part of the market so it makes sense that more architects are looking to this sector,” says Zappia, who agrees there is some specialist learning needed for those entering the field, however “there are things to learn in every sector.”

Compare the products available today, with those of 20 years ago, and the changes are quite remarkable. But if course, this poses the question, what innovations will have to be considered with the next incarnation? Where is the model going to change? Will we demand a VR suite instead of a pool? Will there be swipe cards instead of a concierge? Will it be an AI driven industry? Not so according to Kevin Ryan.

“Not at all. Our target market needs that personal touch; they need someone to talk to in the morning or late at night. We man our places like a great hotel, 24/7. That personal contact is extremely important,” says Ryan.

“That’s all part of it”, says Ryan. “It really is a hospitality style environment.

You’re happiest on holidays – this way you live in the hotel.”

But as any devotee of Trip Advisor will tell you, the best hotels are rated highly not so much for their high teas, as for their warm and caring staff, a fact not unknown to Waterbooks’ Kevin Ryan, who aims to deliver the same service here.

“Oh yes. You can have the best designed facility in the world, but if you don’t have the right staff, it falls on its ear.”

But does this mean that only those who can afford multimillion dollar retirement residences will experience a happy later life? No. Although the experience may be sweeter, it’s not the icing on the cake. A retirement village surrounded by friends, new experiences and a sense of optimism will make it worth hanging around for.

Whether finished in Laminex, or finished in Carrera, it seems it’s the community that makes village life the gold standard in retirement.

Though a bar is also really useful.

Image: Waterbrook Bowral / Supplied

Prue Miller

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