Marchini Curran Interiors has announced the completion of a new senior living scheme in Watford, Hertfordshire. Mayfield Watford retirement village, which is the first to be delivered by Mayfield Villages, consists of 255 contemporary one and two-bedroom apartments for over 55s, and is now open to property owners. Located on
The £35m Castle View Windsor urban retirement development has been completed on time and to budget following a two year build and fulfilling a dream by entrepreneur and developer, Robin Hughes, who wanted to create a retirement home ‘good enough for Mum’, 85 year old Betty Hughes. One of the
As reported by Lloyds Bank, new data suggested that almost half of those individuals looking to relocate home within the upcoming three years are actually planning to downsize. In fact, beyond being a coincidental factor, downsizing has actually been dubbed the most popular reason for people to choose to move
Marchini Curran Interiors has announced the completion of a new senior living scheme in Watford, Hertfordshire. Mayfield Watford retirement village, which is the first to be delivered by Mayfield Villages, consists of 255 contemporary one and two-bedroom apartments for over 55s, and is now open to property owners. Located on Heron Place, close to Watford General Hospital and less than a mile to the town’s retail centre, the new community features landscaped communal gardens, swimming pool, sauna and steam room, gym, beauty treatment rooms and a café-bistro. Midlands-based Marchini Curran Interiors was appointed on the scheme in 2017, to create an interior concept and lead the procurement of furniture, lighting and artwork. The now complete interior design scheme at the village is rooted in Scandinavian style, with a focus on biophilic design – bringing the outside in. The interior is orientated around a central garden with all interior spaces having a visual link to it. “This is a significant and impressive scheme which we are incredibly proud to have delivered. To create a concept from scratch, unlike anything else in the UK, was a real joy to bring to life. We undertook detailed market research in the UK and the US, Australia, New Zealand and Scandinavia for inspiration. With this intelligence we took a fresh approach to designing for contemporary retirement villages, with minimal, clean lines – moving away from the stereotype style often found at senior living developments,” said Christopher Taylor, Design Director at Marchini Curran Interiors. “As part of the design process, we broke down the boundary between defined spaces synonymous with retirement living and instead created a largely open plan interior that can ebb and flow, expand and contract, allowing the spaces to adapt to the activities at hand.” The village is part of the new urban development, Watford Riverwell, which will bring new homes, community, leisure and retail facilities, set in more than 4.5 acres of green open space. “Watford is our first Mayfield Village and it meets the ever-increasing demand for more high-quality retirement options across the UK. Helping people to maintain their independence and actively improve their health and wellbeing should be key to how we look after people as they get older. Marchini Curran listened to what the market wants in terms of the environment they live in and have delivered this with great style,” concluded Nick Sanderson, CEO of Mayfield Villages. Building, Design and Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
The £35m Castle View Windsor urban retirement development has been completed on time and to budget following a two year build and fulfilling a dream by entrepreneur and developer, Robin Hughes, who wanted to create a retirement home ‘good enough for Mum’, 85 year old Betty Hughes. One of the largest and most innovative urban retirement villages in the UK, the Castle Retirement Living development comprises 64 apartments including five rooftop penthouses, along with its neighbouring 72 bed care home, which is being operated by Care UK. From his original dream ten years ago, the founder and CEO of Castle Retirement Living, Robin Hughes spent years buying and assemble different pockets of land in Windsor to create the three-acre urban retirement development site – and originally just armed with a £10k retirement cheque to create his business, won multiple planning permissions, raised the £35m and ran the build with main contractors Castleoak and funding partner Octopus. Says Robin Hughes, Founder and CEO, Castle Retirement Living, who worked in the property and care sector for over 20 years before creating his own vision as an independent retirement developer: “For me, everything about the development from start to finish has been attention to detail in every aspect which has to be ‘good enough for Mum. It had to be right and we couldn’t be late. “Having built four previous retirement villages as development director for Richmond Villages and Shelbourne, I was confident from the outset that with Castle View Windsor, we would finish the project on time to budget and schedule. Many sector projects of this size have been late which is inexcusable. Working collaboratively with Castleoak, our team of 130 contractors on site each day and our excellent project manager, Sam Grimbaldeston, we did it. “Everyone working on the project knew how important quality and completing on schedule was to me, as well as its personal nature. We hosted regular contractor lunches at key stages of the project, the best of which was fish and chips on the roof for the team before the Royal wedding. Good communication is crucial and along with our project update meetings I was on site daily so any issues could be quickly ironed out. We also regularly thanked our construction team for all their hard work and celebrated key project milestones. My Mother is delighted to be in her new home.”
As reported by Lloyds Bank, new data suggested that almost half of those individuals looking to relocate home within the upcoming three years are actually planning to downsize. In fact, beyond being a coincidental factor, downsizing has actually been dubbed the most popular reason for people to choose to move house as of present. Encouraged by the anticipated returns of moving to a smaller property, there has been a considerable surge in interest for such moves over the past few years. This, primarily can be attributed to the average windfall which individuals may be in receipt of should they relocate from a detached to semi-detached home. The average age cited for those looking to downsize sits at around the age of 53, where many of the homeowners had previously lived in their property for an extended period of 11-20 years. Of course, with people around this age beginning to consider their future and plans for upcoming retirement in many cases, relocation to a smaller, more cost-efficient property serves as one way for them to prepare as such. Moving to better suit changing circumstances was reported to be the number one reason for moving, followed by a want to reduce bills, free up equity and, as aforementioned, provide extra funds for retirement. This, of course, is further enhanced when considering the traditionally lower costs of heating and powering a smaller property in contrast to a larger, more spacious one. Of those downsizing, some 20% of people stated that they are moving far earlier than they had originally planned, with key reasons such as health, changing relationship status and the provision of amenities in certain geographic areas being key factors of concern. Additionally, geographic affordability also contributed, especially when taking into account the concept of requirement, where relative location for employment opportunities is no longer of prime concern. With almost three quarters of people expecting to make a profit from downsizing, the question begs as to whether property downsizing in the later stages of life will now become the norm for those looking to prepare for retirement, or invest in key financial products – a popular product naturally proving to be pensions.
