As the housing market continues to face a downturn, residential sites across the Midlands are either being land banked or sold at a reduced price to less risk averse developers and those operating in more buoyant sectors of the market.  Care home operators, who are clients of Bruton Knowles, are seizing the opportunity to acquire residential development sites or former leisure or retail properties across the country.

On behalf of Holiday Retirement UK, the Bruton Knowles development team recently acted as buying agents for a site in Droitwich Spa for a newly proposed retirement facility.  The intended 115-unit facility in Droitwich Spa has a detailed resolution to grant planning permission, pending Section 106 and 278 agreements.  The development team is now working with Holiday Retirement UK to identify further sites throughout the UK as far west as the Devon/Cornwall border and as far east as Kent and Essex.

Ian Mercer, property development consultant with Bruton Knowles comments: “Sites similar to the one which was recently acquired in Droitwich are required across the country. Residential development sites have all the right hallmarks for the care home sector as operators are looking for similar site features.  Sites which have prior planning permission for flatted residential developments are in huge demand and clients will pay substantial prices for sites of this sort.”

“The retirement market has grown substantially in sophistication over the last decade and many sites now tend to be substantial developments.  Some ‘Retirement Villages’, as they are now known, are fantastic communities boasting many on-site facilities that any generation would welcome including restaurants, bars, gyms, meeting rooms, recreational spaces, outdoor facilities and excellent public transport. 

“We are currently looking at several sites in the West Midlands which are up to four acres in size and which can accommodate up to 100 – 200 units.  These can be developed to offer choice and flexibility in tenure with some units offered freehold, and others leasehold, depending on the needs of the resident.”

Other recent successful deals brokered by Bruton Knowles in the care home market include negotiating the sale of a site near Mansfield in the East Midlands to LNT Construction, who procure and develop sites on behalf of national care home provider Orchard Care Homes. The site – a former pub – benefited from a prominent roadside position, excellent transport links and convenient location in the heart of a mixed-use area with a nearby residential community, making it ideal for the care home sector.  Bruton Knowles has also acquired a pub site in Telford acting on behalf of Bondcare care homes.

Bruton Knowles partner and development expert Ian Mercer concludes: “With people living longer, government policy actively encouraging independent living and with the decline of the provision of state-run residential care facilities, it is the private residential care sector which has enjoyed significant growth.  As a growth market it looks set to continue.  The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the policy research and development charity, estimates that the number of places required in residential care will increase from 450,000 in 2004 to over 1.1 million by 2050.”