£3.5m Alder Living project breaks ground on first ‘independent living’ development

Cornmill Manor in Kells & Connor will be home to eight apartments from Alder Living and is the inaugural phase of the first-of-its-kind retirement village concept, boosting the local economy and supporting 10 new construction jobs throughout the duration of the 12-month build.

Located in the heart of the County Antrim countryside outside Ballymena, the development has been carefully crafted to take into consideration everything that will assist an individual to feel safer at home, and to remain independent for longer, whilst also providing piece of mind to relatives.

Clever design, smart home technology, Al monitoring systems, concierge services and a knock & drop home contact service are just some of the benefits that come with the properties.

Connor Dinsmore, Managing Director at Alder Living explained: “We live in a society with an ageing population and at Alder Living, we believe it’s time to re-evaluate how we provide and care for our elderly.

“By taking a proactive approach and planning early for people’s housing needs as they age, we can extend independence in the retirement years and vastly improve long-term quality of life, safely, whilst offering reassurance and peace of mind to family and friends. The launch of our initial eight properties at Cornmill Manor demonstrates our confidence in this new way of living.”

All properties are complete with helpful smart home controls, automatic lighting during the night and monitoring solutions that can raise alerts if predefined rules are triggered such as internal temperature variations, movement not detected or if a medication drawer has not been accessed. Due for completion in Autumn 2021, the new apartments are purposefully designed for the needs of the elderly occupants.

Connor continued: “All too often the difficult decision to move into a care environment is made because an individual has lost the confidence to manage a property that is no longer suitable for their needs.

“Our beautiful homes are designed and adapted to support the needs of the elderly, from the physical adaptions and clever design, the smart technology installed in each of the properties and the community element of village living, to live independently for as long as they feel confident to do so.”

The first phase of Cornmill Manor development comprises of eight, two bed adapted apartments, with private gardens and communal recreation spaces. A second phase will provide a further 30 adapted one and two bed apartments with community lounge, recreation spaces and onsite retail.

Charlie Lynn, Director Lynn & Brewster, commented: “In GB, independent living is an established concept, delivering a cost effective, quality way to live independently and with confidence. Cornmill Manor will offer this here in Northern Ireland enabling its tenants to be part of communities of the future.

“We’re expecting interest to be high as there’s huge demand for this type of luxury retirement living, which we haven’t been able to offer, until now.”

Supporting an individual to continue to live independently in the community not only delivers improved health and wellbeing outcomes but is also a more cost-effective solution than full-time residential care. According to a recent survey by payingforcare.org, the average cost of adapting a home in the UK for the elderly is £16,000. The average monthly cost of communal care home accommodation in Northern Ireland is £2,184 per month, rising to £2,880 for nursing care.

Designed to ‘HAPPI Principles’, an Alder Living home is an elegant home that has been carefully crafted to take into consideration everything that will assist an individual to continue to live independently and with confidence. Internal key features include a 24/7 monitoring system which can send alerts to loved ones if certain rules are triggered, smart door locks with fob access, automatic locking and digital keys to remotely open in an emergency and fully adapted bathrooms and kitchens.

Cornmill Manor is exclusively for those over the age of 55 and is now open for reservations, ahead of the development’s November completion date.

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