Meeting the demand for seniors’ housing

Over 1 people attended the Property Council’s inaugural Queensland Retirement Living Conference, held on 1 June.

Official proceedings began with a welcome address from Liza Carroll, Director General – Department of Housing and Public Works.  This was followed by the keynote presentation from Brian Haratsis, Executive Chairman MacroPlan, who provided an economic overview and outlined the challenges the industry faces in meeting the demand for seniors’ housing.

Brian’s presentation provided the backdrop for the ensuing presentations and panel discussions on the legislation governing the industry, future housing types and planning controls.

The key themes and responses that resulted from the morning sessions included that:

• legislation must enable innovation and respond to market demands,

• care services will become more prevalent in retirement villages,

• planning polices need to facilitate seniors housing developments, and

• customer demands will drive change.

The final session held over lunch, shifted to a national ‘View from the Top’ with Michael Eggington, Managing Director, Retirement living – Lendlease, Anna Learmonth, General Manager of Sales and Legal Administration – Stockland, and Alison Quinn, Chief Executive Officer – RetireAustralia.

The conversation, moderated by Chris Mountford – Queensland Executive Director, Property Council of Australia, covered a range of topics from product types, services, financial models and changing customer expectations.

The Property Council sincerely thanks all the speakers and moderators as well as the conference MC Aileen Stewart, Regional Manager Operations – Retirement Living QLD/NSW/ACT, Stockland.  A special thanks must also go to our conference supporting sponsor MinterEllison.

Photos from the event can be found here.

Supporting Sponsor: