Pickles “Bring Back Bungalows” – "We are!" says developer of Exeter retirement village

Developer Urban Renaissance Villages, which is behind Exeter’s first retirement village Millbrook Village, is welcoming Eric Pickles’ advice issued last week to planners, urging them to build more ‘bungalows and retirement villages of 100 or so houses with activities for residents’ to deal with the predicted housing crisis for the over 65s.

“We totally support Eric Pickles and Nick Boles! This is what our aging population needs – a mixture of property types covering a range of prices - and we have been providing it for upwards of 30 years,” comments Bill Gair, CEO of Urban Renaissance Villages, which is currently creating four specialist villages for the over 55s around the country, including Exeter’s Millbrook Village.

He continues: “we have long ago recognized the need for people to downsize and release their present, and usually under occupied, family home back onto the market, and have been creating our villages, which include two and three bedroom cottages – very akin to the traditional bungalow ¬– in response. They are our most popular model, even during the recent economic downturn, proving the demand from this demographic,” he says.

Gair continues: “With research showing that there are 11million people aged over 65 and by 2033 this figure will rise to 17million; one in three people will be aged 55 and over by 2030; 60% of all new household growth by 2033 will be related to those aged over 65, 21% by those aged over 85; and 75% of older people will be homeowners, Nick Boles is absolutely right that ‘we must build more homes or suitable accommodation for older people if we are to avoid problems further down the track.’ But we must not roll out a production line of apartments everywhere. People need choice, and rightly so,” he says.

Just as the Ministers advise, Millbrook Village (as is the case with URV’s other villages) is not just properties, it is much more about creating independent living for the over 55s, within a supportive, maintenance free community, which offers the freedom to enjoy life to the full – living near friends with the right infrastructure on hand to enable them to carry on with their hobbies and/or some form of full or part time work. “Importantly the properties come with a full property management service, and the lack of need to deal with routine and often laborious gardening chores that a conventional bungalow would demand, is a welcome boon to residents,” adds Bill Gair.

“Again, the Department for Communities and Local Government is advising these properties should be designed to include age-related facilities, and we have always included these in our villages. Our properties have discreet features to suit older occupiers, such as wet-rooms with space to sit; level thresholds; lowered electrical appliances, wheelchair friendly door openings and circulation spaces, and alarm call buttons scattered throughout the properties,” he says.

Bill Gair comments that some developers in this sector complain that bungalows are land hungry and expensive to build. “However,” he continues, “providing that the development mix is carefully optimized we find that we can achieve densities akin to normal family housing, including spacious apartments, and compete in the land market for sites. Importantly we find that a mixture of low-rise “bungalow” dwellings is often very compatible with the reuse of brownfield sites often situated in the Green Belt where perimeter densities and roof line profiles are important. So it’s a win-win result for environmentalists, planners and the buyers of these properties.”

Millbrook Village is located just off Topsham Road in the old St Loyes Foundation site. The £60 million development will provide a selection of 140 luxuriously appointed two- and three-bedroom single level apartments and split level cottages for the over 55s. The properties are set within secure landscaped grounds and centred around a private club house, Springbok Hall, featuring a restaurant, bar, pool, fitness and health suite, library, medical centre and more.

Phase one of Millbrook Village will comprise 15 cottages, 27 apartments, the club house and staff accommodation. The first residents are expected to move in during summer 2014 and properties are available to buy off-plan, with prices starting from £325,000. For more information, visit www.millbrookvillage.co.uk