Brent Cross Town has attracted a 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 728,434m2, c. €9.4 net zero park town being delivered by the 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.
The c. 2,428m2 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, c. 278,709m2 of offices, a high street and schools surrounded by 202,343m2 of parks and playing fields. 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 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.
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 well-being benefits for the UK’s older population. This scheme is a great example of that.”
Nick Sanderson, CEO of Audley Group, said: “The demand for retirement villages continues to grow, and with an ageing 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.”
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.”
Knight Frank led the marketing process on behalf of Brent Cross Town.
