The Grey Nomads are rejoicing! Retirement housing designers and developers have finally caught on to what they have known for 20 years or more; that life in your senior years is all about the three ‘Ls’ – lifestyle, lifestyle, lifestyle.
That’s according to architect Frank Ehrenberg, Brisbane principal of global design practice Marchese Partners, who says the example set by the thousands of Australian seniors who are trekking around the country and around the world has confirmed the company’s decision to spearhead the shift toward a new way for the design and operation of group retirement housing.
“Grey Nomads are by definition travellers. They are explorers, seekers of adventure and experience. They don’t want normal. They don’t want ordinary,” Mr Ehrenberg said.
“This group of seniors have been showing the market quite clearly what they want for a long time but the majority of society just hasn’t seen it or listened to their requirements.
“It’s been right there in front of us and only now is the type of housing product and lifestyle focus they want actually being delivered for them.”
Marchese Partners has led the design thinking on several new retirement communities across Australia, including for leading players RetireAustralia and AVEO for more than a decade.
At the recently completed AVEO Clayfield, the village blends contemporary design with historic restoration in much the same way as any city or community would.
There are contemporary apartments plus restored and adapted buildings offering lifestyle facilities, including integrated cafes and dining precincts, games rooms and activity centres, manicured gardens and exercise spaces.
For RetireAustralia, Mr Ehrenberg and his team have designed low-rise apartment villages sitting alongside existing community facilities such as golf clubs and bowls clubs.
“The retirement generation may be getting ready to enter age appropriate accommodation but that certainly doesn’t mean they were willing to give up anything at all,” he said.
“It’s a really exciting time to be designing seniors living and aged care developments because it allows us to break the mould of the previously dreary retirement and aged care centres and create something that people are attracted to.
“We want to invoke a sense of desire to live in these places and there’s no reason why these developments should be any less appealing than a regular high quality, well designed residential development.”
As the Brisbane City Council moves to incentivise retirement and aged care developments the market will soon see growth in these type of projects across the city.
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