Ashley House : Ryde Village, extra care Housing, Ryde, Isle of Wight

Press Release

Ryde Village, extra care Housing, Ryde, Isle of Wight

Construction has started on the Isle of Wight's first purpose built extra care housing and retirement living scheme. The developer is Morgan Ashley and Ryde Village is the first scheme undertaken by the joint venture following its establishment between Ashley House plc and Morgan Sindall Investments Limited in December 2017.

Located in the seaside town of Ryde, the scheme includes in its first phase 75 extra care apartments and 27 bungalows. All of these homes are available as Affordable Housing either for rent or shared ownership and are scheduled to be completed by February 2020. A second phase will follow with housing available for open market sale.

The first phase has almost 9,000 square metres of build space and a total development cost of approaching £18m, supported with £5m of grant from Homes England. Morgan Ashley has brought in Funding Affordable Homes (FAH) to own and fund the affordable elements of the scheme.

Ryde Village is supported by the Isle of Wight Council (IoWC) and is the first development under the Council's recently adopted Extra Care strategy. Currently, IoWC places more people aged 65 years or over into residential and nursing care than the national average. The Council believes that the lack of suitable alternative accommodation on the island is one of the reasons behind these statistics. This project is seen as a prime example of an extra care housing scheme that will provide more choice and meet local need, helping older people to live more independently.

The extra care scheme will be the first of its type on the island. It comprises 63 one bed apartments and 12 two bed apartments in a building that contains communal and care facilities allowing residents to have access to care and support in the same building as their apartments. Next to the apartment block are 27 two bedroomed bungalows available on a shared ownership basis and these will also benefit from the care and support services available on site. Southern Housing Group will operate and manage Ryde Village providing care and support to those residents needing it. Southern Housing is one of the largest Housing Association operating on the Isle of Wight being specialists in delivering the care and support elderly residents need.

Ryde Village is being constructed by a long established local building contractor, Stoneham Construction. based only a few miles from the site. Stoneham will be using local labour and a local supply chain, enhancing economic activity on the Island.

Jonathan Holmes, Managing Director of Morgan Ashley, commented:

"We are delighted to be on site with this exciting mixed tenure scheme for older residents on the Isle of Wight. It is the first scheme being delivered through our newly formed Joint Venture between

Ashley House and Morgan Sindall Investments. We have high quality partners with Funding Affordable Homes who are funding and owning the scheme, and with Southern Housing who has established high quality Housing on the Island and who will manage the homes. We have appointed a long established local building contractor Stoneham Construction and with them based only a few miles from the site, our scheme is producing positive social impact during the build as well as once local people move in."

Anabel Palmer, Community Investment and Care Director at Southern Housing, said: "Living in a high-quality environment with excellent support on hand can make a huge difference to older people and their families. Southern Housing Group is all about creating a great quality of life in attractive and affordable places that people are proud to call home. On completion we think these apartments/bungalows will offer some of the best facilities for older people in Ryde and the surrounding area and enable them to live independently with the security of our award-winning care and support service."

Tayo Bilewu, Business Development Executive, Funding Affordable Homes, said: "This development reflects our commitment to investing in Extra Care Housing and increasing the number of affordable homes that can enable older people to retain their independence in a safe and personalised environment. Each self-contained apartment and bungalow has been designed to offer a flexible home that provides the resident with easy access to tailored care and support whilst remaining within their community."

Jonathan Smith Assistant Director Integrated Commissioning for Isle of Wight Council and Clinical Commissioning Group said: "The Council is pleased to be working in partnership with Ashley Morgan and Southern Housing Group on the Ryde Village project as this marks the first extra care development to be delivered as part of the Councils 'Independent Island Living Strategy'. The Council is committed to creating a step change in the type of housing provision for older people and adults with learning difficulties (over 55) on the Island. Housing developments like Ryde Village are an important part of improving health and care services on the island, as they provide people with choices that mean they are able to remain in their own homes and live independent lives for as long as possible with the right levels of support and care in place to meet their personal needs which may change over time. This not only leads to better outcomes for the individual but also reduces the reliance upon other traditional forms of residential care."

ENDS

For further information about the event and photographs please contact:

Mark Marston, Ashley House:[e-mail] Samantha Sweeney, Morgan Sindall Investments Limited:[e-mail]

Notes to editors:

About Morgan Ashley

At the end of 2017 Ashley House plc and Morgan Sindall Investments Limited (MSIL) launched a 50:50 joint venture Morgan Ashley Care Developments LLP ('Morgan Ashley'), to develop extra care and supported living housing. Morgan Ashley has been set up to focus on responding to the undersupply of purpose built supported living for elderly and vulnerable people. The new business will work with Ashley House and MSIL's existing partners to deliver a significant pipeline of projects across the country.

Ashley House has been working in health and social care for over 25 years. The Company brings expertise, reputation, track record and strong working relationships with Local Authorities, Homes England, Registered Providers (Housing Associations) and Care Providers to the new joint venture business. MSIL brings expertise in supported living, long term strategic property partnerships with Local Authorities and the NHS underpinned by a broad range of capabilities and experience in investing and managing institutional capital focussed on supported living. MSIL also brings the capabilities of national construction and house building through its group companies.

The combination of these factors provides Morgan Ashley with a unique ability to offer its clients in Local Authorities and Registered Providers considerable and robust resource and expertise to assist them in their response to the massive challenges they are facing in delivering care and housing to vulnerable and elderly people across the UK.

Please contact 01628 600340 or visit our websitewww.morganashley.com

About Funding Affordable Homes

We are a social impact investment company investing in UK government regulated affordable housing. We have close partnerships with housing associations and local authorities. Working with local partners we use our capital to promote the delivery of additional homes and aim to provide a balanced return to our shareholders comprising an attractive mix of income yield and capital appreciation.

Please contact: 020 7495 7070 or visit our websitewww.fundingaffordablehomes.com

About Southern Housing

As one of Southern England's largest housing associations, we provide more than 27,000 homes for over 72,000 people. Whether it's traditional social housing, shared ownership, affordable rent, private market rent, or outright sales, we offer a range of services to communities across the south east of England. We also work with our customers and in communities to provide activities, information, and advice that improve the neighbourhoods our customers live in and their individual lives.

Please contact: 0300 303 1772 or visit our websitewww.shgroup.org.uk