Over the past 40 years, the number of people aged 65 and over in the UK has increased by 52%. This rapid growth is expected to continue, with the Centre for Ageing Better projecting a further 30% increase over the next four decades. As trend continues, demand for specialist housing which is purpose-built to accommodate the needs of an aging population will increase substantially. This is reflected in the Ministry for Housing, Communities & Local Government and Department for Work and Pensions joint research paper on Supported Housing, published at the beginning of the month. The report identifies an unmet need of 388,600 supported housing units for the elderly, and projects that by 2040, up to 963,000 additional units will be required.

The planning system has begun to recognise the need to increase the supply of later living accommodation to meet projected growth. In 2019, the Planning Practice Guidance was amended to emphasise that the need for housing for older people is critical. Paragraph 63 of the National Planning Policy Framework now requires Councils to assess the housing needs of specialist groups when establishing their overall housing needs.

We at Third Revolution Projects are committed to working with our clients, stakeholders and local authorities to bring forward development proposals that will ensure that the needs of older people – who are some of the country’s most vulnerable individuals – are being met, and that there is a strong pipeline of high-quality, well-designed accommodation being brought forward.

We work closely with our clients to advise on the different types of specialist elderly housing, and the benefits and risks associated with each from a planning perspective. These include retirement living homes, which are purpose built C3 homes specially designed to meet the needs of older people, but which do not provide any on-site assistance.

We also have extensive experience working on care home developments, which fall under the C2 (residential institutions) use class, providing on-site nursing and specialist care. Care homes are typically not required to deliver any affordable housing as part of the development proposals but must meet certain design and care provision criteria. Our experience also includes working on extra-care housing developments, which are specially adapted conventional C3 self-contained units, designed to allow older people to live independently, but with some support services provided on-site.

Our successful appeal at Crowthorne, Wokingham Borough on behalf of Crowthorne Care Home Limited for a 60-bed specialist care home is Third Revolution Projects’ most recent success in the sector. The appeal has been allowed following a hearing in July. The care home will provide accommodation for the elderly, including dementia care, with the ability to meet all care needs on site. The 60 bedrooms are all single occupancy with individual wet rooms. The home is also designed to assist in creating dementia friendly environments for people living with dementia and other forms of memory impairment. The proposed care facility allows individual residents to receive varying degrees of support and care from an on-site care team that will be present 24-hours a day.

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