Adlington Retirement Living has appointed Gareth Davis as land director in its land team, as part of a move to expand southwards.

He will be responsible for reviewing new sites, new opportunities and appraising their potential, reporting to land and planning director Josh Kite.

Davis has more than 22 years’ experience in the development sector, 11 of which were spent specialising in the retirement living sector with Churchill Retirement Living and McCarthy Stone.

Davis said: “I’m delighted to have joined Adlington Retirement Living where my role is to identify and acquire land in suitable and aspirational locations. I am tasked with sourcing land parcels of one-to-four acres in the South and South-ast, leading me from Bristol, through Oxfordshire and Berkshire all the way over to Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire.”

Since 2009, Adlington Retirement Living has launched 14 independent retirement communities across the Northwest, Yorkshire, Wales and the Midlands. Having grown by three sites every year, the family-owned and run business stated it now wants to create six new retirement community sites a year.

Dr Ed Gladman, managing director of Adlington Retirement Living, said: “We’re growing our team as part of our commitment to make that happen. In the past five years we have grown from 45 employees to a team of more than 120, including our in-house land team, planners, architects, designers, construction team, and sales and marketing colleagues.”

Davis added: “Retirement Living is a considerable growth sector with huge demographics supporting it. Generally, it’s a very undersupplied part of the market and morally, I’m very happy to be working in it. It’s so satisfying when you see a thriving community. It’s heart-warming because we all know the huge figures about loneliness in over 65s. I think having the option to step out of your apartment and into a community of friendly people who you can talk to, is really important as life progresses.

“I’ve been really impressed with Adlington Retirement Living’s product. I think the range of care from nothing to ‘as much as you need’ works really well. I think the onsite restaurants and all the clubs and activities are good too. It’s a well-rounded, award-winning package and it feels as if the overall ethos is exactly as it should be. It’s very welcoming and the whole business is doing everything for the right reasons.

“I also feel that the Adlington Retirement Living team are pushing retirement living in the direction that it needs to go in. Unlike the more traditional models, it’s moving towards the likes of America and Australasia where they have been doing much better retirement products than we have in the UK. It’s a breath of fresh air to see something that’s a bit of a newer offering and that is already proving to be very successful.”

In 2019, the business launched Adlington Management Services, to provide a consistent service to its homeowners, responsible for the practical aspects of running a retirement community, such as maintaining the building, as well as the more emotional aspects which contribute to health, happiness and wellbeing of homeowners.

Gladman added: “Our vision is to empower the older generation to live a long, happy and healthy life. We do this by creating quality retirement communities in safe and secure environments and providing our homeowners with stimulating activities, extensive communal facilities and beautiful private gardens.”