The UK’s leading developer and manager of retirement communities, McCarthy Stone, has boosted its land team with three new senior appointments
James Hanna, Phil Isherwood and Gareth Owen have all been appointed to McCarthy Stone‘s land team. The three new senior appointments will help the company to put more than £200m investment in buying 65 new sites in 2022.
The land team
James Hanna is now the land director of McCarthy Stone’s special projects team. Hanna’s role is to lead land activities connected with the development of new initiatives. The overall aim is to broaden the market reach of the business and support the company’s growth.
In the past, Hanna has worked in land teams in the supermarket sector, including at Lidl and Aldi. There he was responsible for their mixed-use development arm and corporate acquisitions from organisations such as Waitrose and the Co-op.
Phil Isherwood has joined as land director for the Midlands and will also cover the East and West Midlands. His previous experience in senior property development roles includes Aldi and land acquisition at McDonald’s.
The final appointment has gone to Gareth Owen who has re-joined McCarthy Stone as land director for the North. Owen has held senior land roles for over 25 years. Most recently he spent two years as land & partnerships director for Keepmoat Homes, and prior to this, he spent two years as land director for McCarthy Stone and 14 years as land & planning director at Taylor Wimpey. Owen will be in charge of driving land acquisition across the Northwest, Northeast and Yorkshire.
‘I’m delighted to welcome Phil, Gareth and James to the business’
John Tonkiss, Chief Executive, said:
“I’m delighted to welcome Phil, Gareth and James to the business. With our existing land team around the UK, they will help us buy more sites for high-quality and well-located retirement communities. Their extensive experience in buying town centre, brownfield land is exactly what we need as we seek to bring life back to local high streets through our developments and help older people remain independent, safe and well-connected in their own home. We need new land, and lots of it, in order to satisfy growing demand for this important form of housing.”
Increasing demand
It is predicted that there will be an increase in demand for retirement living as those aged 65+ are set to grow by c.5 million people in the next 20 years. There are currently 475 existing communities under management.
McCarthy Stone seeks to complement the company’s existing workflow with the purchase of 60 additional new site purchases. Over the last four years the company has purchased more than 200 sites.
The new sites must be located on central brownfield (previously developed) locations, between 0.5 to 5 acres, ideally in a prominent location with level access and close to town centres and local amenities.
