Deeley Group brought together public bodies, operators, architects, developers, and contractors for a round-table event focused on driving growth in the Later Living sector at the Grand Hotel in Birmingham, two days before the publication of the government’s 10-year £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme.
The session, facilitated by Jeremy Porteus, CEO of the Housing Learning and Improvement Network (LIN), and a member of the previous government’s independently appointed Older People’s Housing Taskforce, was split into various sessions and covered topics including what good practice looks like in later living, how the sector can deliver more homes and action plans to make that possible.
The event was co-hosted with Preferred Homes Ltd, with Property Director Richard Frank, CEO Findlay MacAlpine and Chief Risk Officer Alan Ferguson joining the round table.
The round table featured Patrick Duffy, Development Director at Anchor Hanover Group; Deborah Casey, Head of Growth at Homes England; Matt Moody, Senior Associate at Quattro Design; Rob Woolston, Director, and Sarah Grocock, Architect, at rg+p Architects; Tony Hubbard, Partner, and Jason Lynn, Extra Care Team Leader, at Langtry-Langton Architects; and Holly Sissons, Associate Director at Corstorphine & Wright Architects.
Other participants included Tony Haran, HPR Consultant on behalf of the West Midlands Combined Authority, and Nicola Hobbs, Housing Strategy and Enabling Manager at Warwick District Council – joined by representatives from Deeley Group including Eleanor Deeley, Martin Gallagher, Tony Corbett, Richard Duxbury and Dean Weldon.
Eleanor Deeley, Joint Managing Director at Deeley Group, opened the event.
“We are always looking at how we can improve and how we can deliver projects to the highest possible standards in the Later Living sector,” she said
“It’s great to have so many architects, clients, operators, developers and public sector representatives in one room.
“The Midlands is exceptional in the way we work together. My hope for our round-table discussion is that we can learn more about what best practice looks like and appreciate the challenges we all have and to deliver even better sites in the Later Living sector.”
Jeremy Porteus, Housing Learning and Improvement Network (LIN), added: “How do we understand the growing diversity of needs and aspirations of older people?
“The Government’s housing target includes a mixed approach to affordable housing and to meet the aspirations of older people across the Later Living sector.”
What does good – and bad – look like in Later Living?
The discussion highlighted how good Later Living schemes put residents and community at the heart of design, with collaboration between the project team and local communities being key to delivering affordable, sustainable homes that reflect diverse cultural needs and provide long-term value.
The group discussed how poor practice often stems from disconnects between planning, commissioning and delivery, with clear guidance, consistent frameworks, greater standardisation, and closer collaboration essential to speeding up delivery, boosting supply and ensuring developments meet the needs of older people.
Richard Frank, Preferred Homes, said: “The good is that by providing affordable housing at scale we can make a positive impact in local communities. The bad is that there has been a ridiculous rise in construction costs and it has taken quite a bit of time to get back to some form of viability.”
Matt Moody, Quattro Design, added: “It is important that architecture creates a homely feel. We want people to move into a Later Living development and provide a sense of community through the communal areas.”
Tony Hubbard, Langtry-Langton Architects, said: “A sense of community is key to bringing the wider community into the scheme. We need to provide a welcoming and attractive public space and coffee shop that people are comfortable coming to.”
Nicola Hobbs, Housing Strategy and Enabling Manager at Warwick District Council, said: “We meet strategically with the West Midlands Combined Authority and Homes England to discuss our plans. We’re steered by our members. It helps to inform our decisions at officer level. Members have difficult decisions to consider and they have to weigh up between the overall population and a specific community. If we can work with members early, we can demonstrate the results.”
How do we deliver more Later Living schemes?
Experts were invited to suggest how the sector can deliver more high quality Later Living developments.
The discussions highlighted how delivering more Later Living homes depends on early collaboration, alignment and a joined-up approach to funding and planning – with speakers stressing the need for coordination between public bodies to align strategic plans and priorities, close viability gaps and simplify approval processes.
The round table agreed that viable schemes start with good design and strategic planning from the outset, but developers, architects and operators need to understand funding, parking and affordability requirements early to avoid delays and redesigns.
Ultimately, open communication and partnerships are essential to delivering more desirable homes and neighbourhoods for older people.
Findlay MacAlpine, Preferred Homes, said: “We find developers coming to us with sites identified for later living as part of a larger urban expansion. For our schemes to work, we need to have supporting community facilities e.g. convenience retail, doctor’s surgeries etc committed to the developments – which they invariably are not.”
Deborah Casey, Homes England, added: “The West Midlands Combined Authority has different funding streams and it isn’t the same as the Social and Affordable Homes Programme. There’s a difference in the approval process, but we have worked really hard to secure a level of alignment.”
Patrick Duffy, Development Director at Anchor Hanover Group, said: “There’s a huge amount of churn at political level and we’re having to adapt our language, such as ageing well or healthy living for older people and saving money for the NHS.”
What action plans would you like to see?
Discussions then turned to what the experts around the table would like to see to push forward more development.
Richard Frank said: “Local authorities are under financial pressure. We need to recognise that they are under a lot of pressure, and they need more resources to provide us with a fast-tracking system.”
Patrick Duffy added: “It would be good for central Government to collate data so that we can understand the demographics of housing needs.”
Commenting on the planning system, Eleanor Deeley said: “The length of time it takes to go through planning and negotiate section 106 needs to be sped up which means educating local authorities of the benefits of Later Living schemes, and having a fast-track system would make a real difference.”
Deeley Group will be sharing further insight from its inaugural Later Living Seminar later this month in a second article.