Conference Programme
Wednesday 2nd December
9.30am
Morning Conference Session
Chairman’s Welcome & Housekeeping
What must the sector solve next?
After years of strong demographics but limited delivery, what would genuine progress look like by the end of 2027?
Retirement Living Property in 2026 – Capital, Transactions and Performance
Where is capital actually deploying across for-sale, rental and Integrated Retirement Communities – and where is it still waiting?
What do transactions, reservations, completions, pricing and absorption tell us about the schemes and locations that work?
How does retirement living now compare with Build to Rent, student housing and other operational living sectors on risk, return and scalability?
Has consolidation created stronger platforms, or simply concentrated risk?
What should the market expect in 2027?
How Does Retirement Living Reach Scale?
Which parts of the model are failing first: land, planning, construction, sales velocity, operating cost or cost of capital?
Can retirement for rent expand the market—and which customer groups, locations and rental price points offer the greatest demand?
What can retirement living learn from Build to Rent and single-family rental about institutional funding, standardised design, leasing, customer service and operating at scale?
Can rental produce sustainable, inflation-linked returns once voids, staffing, amenities, care provision and long-term maintenance are fully costed?
Can charitable and long-term stewardship models help providers serve the middle market while preserving the community, service and security that make a move attractive?
What is the minimum viable amenity and service offer, and when does hotel-style provision make either rents or service charges unaffordable?
Should operators own, manage, franchise or partner with housebuilders, charities, local authorities and institutional investors—and which structures best align long-term interests?
What would a genuinely scalable multi-tenure pipeline look like, rather than a collection of bespoke schemes?
The Care Home Market in 2026 – Investment, Supply and Operating Performance
What drove the exceptional wave of platform and portfolio activity, and what does it mean for pricing, yields and competition?
Where are occupancy, fee growth, agency use, labour cost and EBITDARM margins now?
Which beds are genuinely fit for the next twenty years – and how large is the replacement and refurbishment requirement?
Where are the strongest development opportunities by acuity, payer mix and geography?
What should operators and investors expect in 2027?
The Care Home Operating Model – Occupancy, Fees, Workforce and Growth
What is driving occupancy and fee growth—and how different is performance by payer mix, acuity and geography?
Can margins recover as wages, National Insurance, agency and other operating costs rise?
Can public and private fee rates converge sufficiently to reduce reliance on self-funder cross-subsidy?
Which homes should be refurbished, replaced or closed—and where can operators open new homes with confidence?
How should boards stress-test rent cover, debt, capital expenditure and quality before pursuing growth?
What separates genuinely scalable operators from businesses that simply accumulate beds?
11.25am
Networking Coffee Break
Fireside Chat – Why Hasn’t the Retirement Village Market Quite Worked Out?
The demographics have been compelling for twenty years: why has supply remained small and growth repeatedly disappointed?
Has the sector built the wrong product, in the wrong places, at the wrong price – or simply explained it badly?
How much have long development periods and slow early sales undermined investor patience?
Are deferred management charges essential infrastructure for the model or still a barrier to trust?
Did the sector over-specify amenities and underestimate their operating cost?
Can clearer consumer regulation or a New Zealand-style model unlock confidence and institutional capital?
Making Senior Living Work – Can the Housebuilding Sector Unlock Delivery?
Why are so few homes designed specifically for older people being delivered, despite clear demographic need?
What would persuade mainstream housebuilders to enter senior living—and should they build, operate or partner with specialists?
Can housebuilders adapt their single-family rental experience to create an institutionally funded senior-rental market?
Which ownership, rental, shared-ownership and mixed-tenure models could make senior living accessible to a broader market?
What partnerships with local authorities, charities, health systems and institutional capital could unlock a repeatable pipeline?
European Senior Living – Which Markets Are Reaching Scale?
What is happening across the established senior-living markets of France, Germany, the Netherlands and the Nordics, and the faster-growing markets of Spain, Italy and Portugal?
How is the European offer evolving across independent living, rental communities, housing with care and more traditional care-home models?
Which countries, customer groups, price points and tenure models are attracting the greatest investor interest?
How are investors assessing regulation, operator strength, staffing, development risk and the balance between property returns and operational performance?
Is genuine scale emerging—and which European approaches to rental, affordability, operating models and delivery could be successfully applied in the UK?
1.10pm
Lunch & Networking Session
2.05pm
Afternoon Conference Session
Retirement Living in the UK – Planning, Legislation and Consumer Regulation
What has changed for retirement housing, housing-with-care and care homes in the planning system?
Should every local plan identify need, land and delivery trajectories for older people’s housing?
Will commonhold and leasehold reform provide a workable basis for service-led communities and deferred fees?
How can housing, health and adult social care budgets recognise the system value of prevention, independence and right-sizing?
What should the sector ask government to deliver in the next twelve months – not the next decade?
Care Home Trading Performance – What Are the Numbers Telling Us?
Where are occupancy, private-pay fees and funding mix moving—and how different is the picture by region and home type?
What are staffing, agency and wage costs doing to margins and sustainable fee levels?
How quickly are new homes filling—and what distinguishes the strongest-performing developments?
Where are closures and obsolete stock creating replacement demand—and where can new development remain viable?
Which operating benchmarks should owners, operators, lenders and investors use for 2027?
Turning Enquiries into Confident Choices – Building Trust and Sustainable Private-Pay Occupancy
How can operators make the first enquiry, visit, assessment and move-in experience easier and more reassuring for residents and families?
What do self-funders need to understand about care, outcomes, price and value before they can make a confident decision?
How can faster responses, thoughtful follow-up and a strong home visit build trust and improve conversion?
Which measures show whether marketing, sales and customer experience are supporting appropriate admissions and lasting occupancy?
What practical changes can homes make now to strengthen local reputation, family advocacy and sustainable private-pay growth?
Creating Places People Choose – Independence, Community, Design and Technology
What makes someone choose retirement living or a care home—and how do cost, care quality, family involvement, service certainty and first impressions build trust?
How can homes protect privacy and independence while enabling friendships, interests, routines, purpose and a strong social life?
Which facilities, activities and links to the wider community are genuinely used and valued—and which merely add cost without improving daily life?
How can attractive, adaptable design support mobility aids, dementia, sensory change and increasing frailty without ever feeling institutional?
What can technology now do—from fall detection and health monitoring to voice controls, digital companionship and family connection—and where must choice, privacy and human contact come first?
What Will Capital Back Next in Care Homes and Retirement Living?
Where is capital deploying—and which parts of the market remain difficult to fund?
Why has investment reached greater scale in care homes than retirement living?
Which structures work best: bank debt, private credit, forward funding, joint ventures, platform investment or sale and leaseback?
How do investors assess the operator, occupancy, staffing, regulation, sales rates and operating performance?
Can retirement rental and mixed tenure provide the long-term income and scale institutional investors require?
How can capital fund new care homes and more affordable senior housing without relying on premium pricing?
Closing Remarks and Summary from the Chair
4.15pm
Close of Conference Sessions
4.20pm
The Retirement Living & Care Industry Christmas Drinks Reception
Join market leaders and attendees for live music and networking.
