Conference Programme

Wednesday 2nd December

8.30am
Registration and Networking Breakfast Session

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?
Should schemes offer rental, ownership and shared ownership together—and how can operators manage different customer expectations within one community?
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 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?

Care Homes After the Deal Wave – Can Operators Protect Quality While Rebuilding Resilience?
Does consolidation strengthen the sector, or increase exposure to highly leveraged platforms and remote ownership?
How should boards stress-test rent cover, debt, capital expenditure and covenant resilience before the next downturn?
Can public and private fee rates converge sufficiently to stop self-funders cross-subsidising an underfunded system?
How will changes to overseas recruitment affect retention, pay progression and workforce design?
What should responsible AI automate – and which decisions must remain human?
How can providers evidence quality, culture and outcomes under the new regulatory approach?
What role can care homes play in neighbourhood health, rehabilitation and avoiding hospital admission?

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 – How can a broader, more affordable retirement offering, including rental. finally reach the mainstream?
What can a charitable model do differently on tenure, affordability, service and long-term stewardship?
How can providers serve the middle market without stripping out the community offer that makes the move attractive?
Where does retirement for rent fit into the overall picture and why does this work?
What partnerships with local authorities, health systems and institutional capital could unlock a repeatable pipeline?

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 changes to planning, land allocation, funding and consumer confidence are needed to deliver senior housing at genuine scale?

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?

CQC Regulatory Update – What Care Providers Need to Know for 2027
How CQC’s new assessment, inspection and ratings approach will affect providers.
What CQC is currently finding across care homes and homecare services.
Where regulation begins when personal care is delivered within retirement communities.
What providers must evidence on leadership, staffing, safeguarding and resident outcomes.
The practical steps operators should take now to remain compliant.

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 currently 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?

Making Senior Living Work – Consumer Choice and Living Well for Longer: Creating Homes for Active, Independent and Social Lives
What drives the decision to enter retirement living or a care home—and how do cost, tenure, service certainty, care quality and family involvement affect trust and consumer choice?
How can homes provide privacy and independence while helping residents maintain friendships, interests, routines and a strong social life?
Which shared facilities, activities and connections to the wider community genuinely create purpose, belonging and active lives—and which simply add cost?
How can inclusive, adaptable design accommodate mobility aids, dementia, sensory change and increasing frailty while remaining attractive, domestic and never institutional?
What can technology now do to extend independence and improve quality of life—from discreet fall detection, movement and health monitoring to voice controls, digital companionship and better
connections with family—and how should providers protect privacy, choice and human contact?

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?

4.15pm
Close of Conference Sessions

4.20pm
The Retirement Living & Care Industry Christmas Drinks Reception
Join the market leaders, conference speakers and attendees for live music and networking.