Plans for retirement village unveiled

Galliford Try is planning to develop a state-of-the-art retirement village in Washington.

The extra care facility will be for social landlord Riverside Group, one of the largest and most dynamic housing and regeneration organisations in Britain, managing and owning more than 51,000 homes from Irvine in Scotland to Kent in England.

Detailed designs for the proposed site - the former London Inn club in Spout Lane – were prepared following consultations with the local community and a formal planning application has been lodged with Sunderland City Council.  

Stephen McCoy, Managing Director with Galliford Try Partnerships North (GTPN), said:  “We are delighted to be working with Riverside for the first time on an exciting project which will improve the quality and choice of living styles for older people in the area.

“We have significant experience of developing these facilities which provide people with modern, sustainable homes with built in flexibility to meet their needs as they grow older.”

Riverside’s local Development Director, Julie Gray, added:  “What many over 55s want from their home is something modern, affordable, with a good social life but also with care and support to meet their needs.

“This scheme will offer modern, attractive homes in a retirement village-style development.  It will provide an extra care service for residents aged over 55 with care and support needs, as well as providing a base for care staff to provide support for older people in the wider community. It is classed as an extra-care scheme because of the flexible range of support it will offer.  These include individual care packages.”

Riverside already provides extra care and a wide range of other types of affordable housing for both rent and sale across the North East.  This development would comprise 79 one and two-bedroomed extra care apartments and will have a wide range of onsite social facilities open for community use.

If the proposals are approved, work could begin on site at the start of next year with completion scheduled for summer 2016.  The project is expected to create local job and supply chain opportunities.

Extra care facilities are designed for the over 55s and offer a range of living styles - from fully independent to 24 hour, on-site support.  The building is constructed so that adaptations can be made to the homes later to allow easier access and mobility.

The award of this project brings to total amount of new work secured by GTPN since the beginning of the year to £30m – putting the business on track to continue its rapid expansion in the area and hit an expected £60m annual turnover within the next two years.

The company is developing over 300 new homes for the Gateshead Regeneration Partnership, Cestria Housing Association, Home Group and Homes for Northumberland and in excess of 230 units of Extra Care for Thirteen Group, Isos Housing and Leazes Homes.