Brent Cross Town announces that it has attracted the joint venture between Audley Group and Senior Living Investment Partners (‘SLIP’) to deliver Brent Cross Town’s first retirement village. It marks continued investment and construction momentum at the 180-acre, £8bn net zero park town being delivered by Related Argent and Barnet Council partnership. Providing specialist homes for later living is an important part of the new town’s commitment to be inclusive, and to design a place that works for all residents.
Audley Group is the UK’s leading provider of Integrated Retirement Communities (‘IRCs’) and SLIP is the £200 million partnership between specialist real estate investor Octopus Real Estate and Pension Insurance Corporation (‘PIC’), a specialist insurer of defined benefit pension schemes. Brent Cross Town is the joint venture’s second investment with Audley following the announcement of its debut at Headley Court in Surrey last month.
The 0.6-acre plot at Brent Cross Town has been acquired by the Audley Group and SLIP joint venture which will develop a retirement village with c.150 homes as part of Audley Group’s Mayfield Villages. Brent Cross Town will be the second Mayfield Village in the UK, and the first to be developed in London. The Mayfield brand was designed to bring contemporary retirement living to a much wider audience and to give more people more choice over how and where they live as they get older.
Related Argent, as development manager for Brent Cross Town, will lead the early planning and design process in collaboration with Audley Group. It is anticipated that construction of the new retirement village will start by the end of 2024.
Brent Cross Town is among Europe’s largest urban regeneration projects and, once completed, will become one of the largest net zero developments in the UK, with nearly 7,000 new homes, 3 million sq ft of offices, a high street and schools surrounded by 50 acres of parks and playing fields.
The announcement of the first retirement village at Brent Cross Town follows the start-on-site of five buildings including for sale, build-to-rent and student homes. A new train station, Brent Cross West, is due to open later this year, connecting to King’s Cross in as little as 12 minutes, and Sheffield Hallam University will open its first campus outside of Yorkshire at Brent Cross Town.
Nearly one in five people in England and Wales is now aged 65 or older, the highest proportion ever recorded, and the number of over 65s is projected to grow to 17.2 million by 2040. A leading review published in late 2022 revealed that 50,000 new homes for older people must built each year, to help the UK population stay well for longer, and reduce pressure on the NHS and care services.
The new Mayfield Village is aligned with Brent Cross Town’s focus on delivering a flourishing community rooted in health, wellbeing and access to sports and play for everyone. The retirement village - centred around communal spaces and central facilities - will include a café and bistro, gym, swimming pool, spa, relaxation area and village hall, all set within Brent Cross Town’s network of green outside spaces. The net-zero credentials of Brent Cross Town reflect the commitment of Audley Group and SLIP to invest in and deliver some of the highest quality schemes in the senior living sector, driven by a commitment to carbon efficiency and offering health and wellbeing benefits for our ageing population.
Tom Goodall, Managing Director of Related Argent, said: “Securing the right partner for our senior living offer at Brent Cross Town was extremely important to us. We are creating one of the largest town centre developments across Europe and providing homes and amenities for all ages is critical to its success. We are pleased to welcome a joint venture of this calibre that brings extensive expertise in the sector and demonstrates the strength of Brent Cross Town which continues to attract significant inward investment.”
Kevin Beirne, Head of Retirement at Octopus Real Estate, added: “To have an IRC at the centre of such an impactful regeneration project is a fantastic result for the wider later living sector. The net zero credentials of this scheme are laudable, and demonstrate our commitment to helping the UK meet its net zero by 2050 target. It’s fitting too that a retirement village benefits from this; older people spend more time in their homes than any other cohort. The efficiency of these new homes will deliver real value for residents in the form of thermal comfort and lower energy bills. Through our SLIP partnership with PIC, we aim to deliver some of the highest quality developments the later living sector has ever seen, with a drive towards both carbon efficiency and significant health and wellbeing benefits for the UK’s older population. This scheme is a great example of that.”
Hayley Rees, Managing Director PIC Capital, said: “Our latest integrated retirement community investment is part of the wider regeneration project in Brent Cross, where the focus extends beyond constructing new homes into the creation of a vibrant multi-generational community. Our investment into this future net zero town highlights our commitment to creating a sustainable and inclusive space that supports the needs of our residents and the wider community. Together, we're creating a future where senior living becomes a cornerstone of a thriving and connected neighbourhood. The focus on regeneration and sustainability in Brent Cross embodies PIC's purposeful finance ethos - safely investing in the UK in order to pay the pensions of our policyholders.”
Nick Sanderson, CEO of Audley Group, said: “The demand for retirement villages continues to grow, and with an aging population there is an urgent need to build more units. Brent Cross Town will be our second Mayfield village, and I’m delighted to work with our JV partners and with Related Argent and Barnet Council to meet that demand in north London. Mixed use developments which include integrated retirement living are vital to create vibrant, intergenerational communities.”
Councillor Ross Houston, Deputy Leader of Barnet Council and Cabinet Member for Homes and Regeneration, said: “Barnet’s new net-zero park town has been carefully designed to meet the needs of our residents now and in the future with a range of options including social housing, private sale homes, student accommodation and homes built to rent. I also welcome the investment in more high quality, specialist housing options for later living in our borough, which will sit at the heart of this vibrant new mixed community that provides everything needed to live an independent, fulfilled life.”
Health and wellness will be integral to the village, helping property owners live better, for longer. Care will be provided by Mayfield Care, which is CQC registered. Against a backdrop of undersupply and increasing demand, driven by the UK’s growing older population, SLIP’s and Audley Group’s objective is the development of new, high-quality, retirement communities nationwide.
Knight Frank led the marketing process on behalf of Brent Cross Town.
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About Brent Cross Town: Brent Cross Town is the neighbourhood at the heart of the Brent Cross Cricklewood regeneration programme. It is a joint venture between Related Argent and Barnet Council to develop a large-scale mixed-use development including new homes, retail and office space, as well as improved schools and greenspaces in the area. Early work started on site in early 2020 and construction is also underway on the new Brent Cross West station which is due to open later this year. Building on the strengths of this diverse part of the city, Brent Cross Town will draw inspiration from the best of London’s long-established neighbourhoods with all their complexity and character.
At its heart, will be a focus on sport, play, health and well-being. The new neighbourhood will provide 6,700 homes, state-of-the-art workspace for over 25,000 people, and pedestrian friendly streets and squares with local shops and restaurants that will complement the offer at Brent Cross Shopping Centre. The community will be supported by first-class public transport infrastructure, a new and improved network of walking and cycle routes and a series of new parks and other amenities. www.brentcrosstown.co.uk @brentcrosstown
Related Argent is making four significant pledges for Brent Cross Town:
About Audley Group:Audley Group is a specialist retirement housing provider which acquires sites, develops and then operates retirement villages. The Group has two brands: Audley Villages, founded in 1991 and aimed at the luxury end of the market, and Mayfield Villages, a proposition with broader appeal. Audley Group now owns a portfolio of 21 villages across the country. Audley is owned by the Moorfield Audley Real Estate Fund (MAREF) managed by Moorfield.
Owners buy their own house or apartment on a 250-year lease with access to facilities and flexible care if needed, enabling them to live an independent and healthy life. Audley Group is an accredited provider of homecare and a founder member of The Associated Retirement Community Operators (ARCO), the main body supporting Integrated Retirement Communities across the UK, setting standards for the sector, and representing the interests of consumers and providers at a national level. https://www.audleygroup.com/
About Octopus Real Estate:Octopus Real Estate, part of Octopus Investments, is a leading specialist real estate investor, with over £3.7 billion in real estate assets and secured lending, and a highly experienced team of over 90 professionals.
The property lending team provides bespoke, customer focused financing solutions across the UK residential, commercial and development sectors. The team has lent more than £6.2 billion across over 4,400 loans, providing competitively priced financing throughout the UK and spanning the property investment lifecycle, with loans typically ranging from £100,000 to £100 million+. The investment team manages over £1.8 billion of investments, with a focus on care homes, retirement communities and affordable housing.
About PIC:The purpose of PIC is to pay the pensions of its current and future policyholders. PIC provides secure retirement incomes through comprehensive risk management and excellence in asset and liability management, as well as exceptional customer service. At year end 2022, PIC had insured 302,200 pension scheme members and had £41 billion in financial investments, accumulated through the provision of tailored pension insurance buyouts and buy-ins to the trustees and sponsors of UK defined benefit pension schemes. To date, PIC has made total pension payments of £10.6 billion to its policyholders. Clients include FTSE 100 companies, multinationals and the public sector. PIC is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority (FRN 454345). For further information please visit www.pensioncorporation.com
About Related Argent:In 2015, Argent and Related joined forces to create an unrivalled UK property business and urban regeneration specialist. The company brings together the expertise and track record of Argent – the developer behind some of Britain’s most successful mixed-use places, and Related – one of the most innovative and prolific real estate companies in the US. The combined experience delivering ground breaking projects such as King’s Cross in London, Hudson Yards and Deutsche Bank Center in New York, Brindleyplace in Birmingham, The Square in West Palm Beach, Florida and The Grand LA in Los Angeles is brought to bear on each of the projects.
Related Argent operates across a range of property sectors including residential, workspace, education, shopping, hospitality and leisure. Its work goes beyond bricks and mortar development. It also specialises in the services, facilities and experiences that are so important to urban life – art, culture, events, schools, skills & training programmes and renewable energy networks. Related Argent is one of the UK’s leading developer-owner-operators and, since its inception eight years ago, has rapidly grown a £9Bn+, 12m sq ft mixed-use development pipeline. This includes major regeneration projects in London, at Brent Cross Town and Tottenham Hale, as well as a Build-to-Rent (BtR) scheme at King’s Cross, known as ‘Author King’s Cross’. It’s accessing global capital markets to deliver major new projects across the UK and is seeking to expand its BtR housing portfolio. On 1 May 2024, Argent will transfer all employees, projects and assets to Related Argent Limited. Related Argent’s vision is to be a great city builder – for people, planet, and prosperity and its purpose is to improve urban life for all, everyday. This means developing for the long term - astutely, sustainably and with a sense of social purpose. Related Argent is delivering the places, homes, workspace, public space, arts, culture, events and services that our UK cities and town centres need. www.argentllp.co.uk
