Later living: Venture monitors
Ivy Care Home portfolio

As part of its growing body of work in the later living sector, Workman’s Venture team has monitored the development of five luxury care homes, constructed to rigorously high standards of quality and workmanship. All five have now reached practical completion, and been handed over to operators with +30-year leases.

The Ivy Care Home portfolio, valued in excess of £100m when first conceived in 2020, comprises a collection of architect-designed buildings, set within landscaped settings in prominent locations. These include Eastleigh, Enfield, Braintree, Littleover, Market Harborough, Redford (Edinburgh), Wixams, Verwood and Upton. Five of the homes were newly built, while an additional four operational care homes were purchased by the fund, following extensive due diligence studies carried out by the Venture team.

Workman and Venture team specialists from across the firm have been involved in development monitoring for the later living project, which has drawn upon expertise from our Bristol, Swindon, Cambridge, Milton Keynes, and Glasgow offices.

The teams have collaborated with innovative and market leading developers and operators such as Hamberley Care Homes, Avery Healthcare, and Frontier Care, who take up their leases once the new buildings have reached practical completion.

Tight specification to meet exemplary standards

“These projects are very focused in terms of their very tight specification,” says Richard Fridd, Partner, and Project Lead for the Venture team.

“The output is very similar across many of the developers because it’s a tried-and-tested format within various different shells. The developers are incredibly focused, because they’re also acting as operators, so they know exactly what works for them and their customer base, and what doesn’t.”

Indeed, the later living care homes are built to exemplary standards, with between 60 and 85 ensuite bedrooms across no more than three floors. Amenities can include bar, cinema, exercise rooms, private dining, hair salon and barbers, gardening areas designed for wheelchair-users, café, library, potting sheds, wildflower meadows, sensory gardens, and sheltered outdoor seating areas.

The homes are also constructed progressively in terms of energy efficiency and BREEAM ratings, often with sustainable elements such as green roofs, rainwater harvesting, PV solar panels, heat recovery systems, and sophisticated building management systems that control all of the M&E plant.

Fitted with digital metering systems that can be read for various different timescales, the homes also boast internal communication and nurse call systems, which allow efficient and effective care delivery. Each floor will be staffed by approximately 10-15 employees, with weekly costs for residents at around £1500 to £1600 per room.

To find out more about Venture’s work in the residential sector, see here.