Uniting to deliver largest number of retirement living apartments in its history

The Not For Profit faith-based operator already supports more than 3,800 residents across its retirement living portfolio.

Uniting NSW.ACT expects to double that number by 2036 with six retirement living developments in approval and launch stages, and more in planning.

“Australia has a demographic tsunami,” Uniting NSW.ACT Director of Property and Housing Simon Furness told The Weekly SOURCE. “When you look closely at the housing crisis, it starts with our ageing population – if we don’t supply seniors with purposefully designed housing that supports them as they grow older, we won’t ever solve the supply challenge.

“Many seniors are living in homes that are too big for their current needs, so if we can create greater choice and opportunities for them within their own communities, it helps free up established homes for younger families.”

Uniting currently has State Significant Development approvals for four projects:

• Its biggest project in history, the $500 million redevelopment of the War Memorial Hospital in Waverley, 7km east of Sydney’s CBD;
• The $233 million Uniting Kingscliff redevelopment in the NSW Northern Rivers region;

• The $200 million redevelopment of Wesley Gardens residential aged care home in Belrose, into an intergenerational health precinct;
• The $300 million 400-bed continuum of care development in Charlestown, Lake Macquarie.

The plans for the communities at Waverley, Kingscliff and Belrose are now being finalised following their recent green lights.

Simon said the projects are part of a statewide expansion program that will deliver more than 4,000 new retirement living apartments, 200 social and affordable rental apartments and 2,000 residential aged care places, and upgrades to existing services.

“Over the course of the next decade we will deliver the largest number of retirement living apartments in our organisation’s history, allowing us to support more seniors to live independently at home,” he said.

“Our approach is to create spaces where residents can move through different stages of life without uprooting their connections or losing their sense of home, and the ability to access support at home when they need it.”

Two further retirement living projects will launch in the next two months:

• Uniting Park Meadows Stage Two at Westmead, 26km west of Sydney’s CBD,  this month; and

• The Stage Two redevelopment of Uniting Edinglassie in Emu Plains, 58km west of the CBD.

In addition, Uniting turned the first sod on the redevelopment of Uniting Nareen Gardens in Bateau Bay, on the NSW Central Coast, in April.