FORE Partnership has teamed up with extra care operator Amicala to deliver a new generation of ultra-sustainable later living developments in southern and central England.

It plans to invest £300m in 100-unit schemes in centres like Bristol, Brighton, Birmingham, Cambridge, and within the M25.

The first extra care scheme will be built at a five-acre site in the Westbury Park area to the north of Bristol.

The site on the grounds of the former St Christopher’s School comprises around 93,000 sq ft of existing buildings, including the Grade-II listed Grace House.

Mixed-use developer First Base has been appointed to deliver the project, which will see £80m spent on the sustainable refurbishment of the existing buildings as well as new development.

Extra care is a relatively new model of senior living in the UK that is very different to traditional retirement housing in both scale and the services provided. The model enables seniors who remain relatively independent to move into the community, with a minimum baseline of care, which can then be increased as they age, ultimately providing full wrap-around care.

According to trade body ARCO, in the UK just 0.6% of over 65s currently reside in extra care communities compared to 5% to 6% in Australia, New Zealand and the US.

Basil Demeroutis, managing partner of FORE, said: “It has been made abundantly clear as the UK has lived through the Covid pandemic that the quality of our homes has a huge impact on our health and wellbeing.

“This is true for seniors as much as anyone and we want to bring our experience in developing ultra-sustainable, thoughtfully-designed buildings to bear in creating a new generation of net zero carbon later living developments around the UK.”