Churchill Retirement Living - building again - Gloucester

Sheltered Housing Developer Churchill Retirement Living has announced that it is hoping to restart building at its site in Denmark Road, Gloucester which was mothballed last year, provided that the s106 planning agreements agreed at the peak of the housing market are re-negotiated and contributions reduced to reflect current viability. The development will provide 48 one- and two-bedroom retirement apartments with communal facilities including an Owners’ Lounge, Guest Suite, Laudnry Room and landscaped gardens.

Churchill is also cautiously starting to replenish their land bank with selected land purchases gradually increasing over the next three years. “It’s too early to say whether we see green shoots yet in the housing market but we may reach the bottom of the housing market downturn sometime this year. It will be very much a case of “steady as she goes”; far from being out of the storm this could well just be the respite as we pass through the eye. We have a long way to go yet,” commented Spencer McCarthy, Chairman and Group Managing Director of Churchill Retirement Living. The specialist provider of private sheltered housing for older people proposes to keep a very close watch on the market and should there be signs that the market does not continue to strengthen it will alter its plans for building and land buying accordingly.

Churchill Retirement Living is the fastest growing privately owned sheltered housing developer in the country and plans to gradually increase construction and land acquisition in the next year. This in turn will provide job opportunities and the potential of contracts for subcontractors and suppliers.

The company has the full support of its bankers, and has just recently agreed new facilities with HSBC; and the McCarthy Family trust which has invested £62 million pounds in the company, the company has been commended for the way the business has been managed prior to and during the economic downturn. Spencer McCarthy commented, “This is good news for all of us at Churchill we have a strong and respected team, it has been testing times for all of us. Over the last twenty months we have been cutting our cloth accordingly. Offices have been closed, overheads reduced by 50% and land sold or contracts dropped, with some sites under construction being mothballed. All the actions taken from early in 2007 onwards have safeguarded the position of the company, which means we are in a very strong and stable position to face the future and implement our development plans.”

“Churchill Retirement Living is a privately owned company that has the flexibility and capacity to respond quickly to changing market conditions and we are able to make a move now, unlike our competitors who have had to refinance and essentially have their hands tied and are controlled by their bankers,” concluded Spencer McCarthy.