A £60 million luxury retirement village with its own club house, bar, cafe, tidal pools, spa, fitness suite, community event spaces, restaurant and bowling green has been given the go-ahead.
The Hills at Whitecraigs on the southern outskirts of Glasgow is billed as Scotland's first dedicated retirement village.
The self-contained development of 214 one and two-bedroom flats, 38 cottages and an 80-bed care home will be built on a 17-acre countryside setting in Newton Mearns, overlooking Glasgow. Construction is to begin in the first quarter of next year.
Glasgow and Singapore-based developer Scotsbridge Holdings, which has received full planning consent for the project, is seeking locations in Scotland for similar developments, supported by overseas investment.
Life at the village will centre around the two-storey club house. Aimed specifically at over-55s, it will promote a holistic approach to residents’ health and wellbeing, with trees and water features.
Scotsbridge director Shazad Bakhsh said: “As people live longer there is growing demand for high quality accommodation that will meet their changing needs, but also help them to enjoy a full, active and varied lifestyle.
“The Hills at Whitecraigs will set new standards for luxury living for over-55s with a strong emphasis on and health and wellbeing. What we plan to offer our residents is much more than a traditional retirement facility and we want to change how people in Scotland look at later living. We’re proposing to break ground on the development in the first quarter of 2020 and are targeting the first phase of the residential units to be completed by third quarter of 2021.”
Scotsbridge was established in 2015 by Bakhsh and two Singaporean fellow directors Kunal Nathani and Neeraj Daryanani. It is already involved with Osborne+Co in a new £140 million Grade A office development in Argyle Street for US financial giant JPMorgan Chase. They also plan to develop the former City of Glasgow College building overlooking George Square into Grade A office space.
Bakhsh added: “Along with our partners and investors, we believe Scotland offers a stable environment in which to invest funds in major property developments offering a good return.”
