At Goodwin Village Downer, retirement is viewed a little differently. Photo: Goodwin.
When Erik Boddeus first looked at design plans for a new retirement village in Downer, he recalled an issue many retirees face.
“A few years before, I had been looking at the design of a retirement village, and when I asked the developer why there were only one and two-bedroom dwellings, he said, ‘That’s all they need’,” the Executive Manager Retirement Living, Property and Development at Goodwin says.
“It might be all they need, but in my experience, it’s not what they want.”
Goodwin Village Downer was built almost exclusively as two- and three-bedroom apartments, with only a handful of one-bedroom units. Vindication came quickly.
“The first apartment we sold was a three-bedroom apartment, to a single lady in her 80s,” he says.
“We’re seeing more single seniors than ever before, and they want space. Just because you’ve stopped working and you’re single, doesn’t mean life has to shrink.
“They use that second or third bedroom as a media room, reading room or craft room. They had that kind of space at the family home, and they want to continue to do the things they love even when they’ve left the extra bedrooms behind.”
In fact, the term “downsizer” is a bit of a misnomer, according to Erik. At Goodwin, they’re referred to as “rightsizers” – a term that better encapsulates the fact that a retiree’s needs don’t lessen, but evolve.
They might not need the four or five bedrooms they had in the family home they’re leaving, and they might be looking for a lower-maintenance arrangement, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they want less living space.
In Erik’s experience, people in this situation typically look for large townhouses or apartments, but with a shortage of stock in Canberra – especially three-bedroom configurations – many are compromising on their preferences.
“Many townhouses and units cater for younger people with less furniture and fewer possessions. But retirees often accumulate many possessions, and many are precious. They might want to declutter when they leave the family home, but they certainly don’t want to lose it all.
“Initially, in our design, we put in a lot of joinery, but we’ve taken that out of the living spaces to allow people to bring their favourite furniture with them — that sofa or credenza that, for whatever reason, says ‘home’.
“Similarly, many townhouses and units have small bedrooms and kitchens. Retirees want those second and third bedrooms to be real bedrooms, not token bedrooms. The majority of bedrooms in a Goodwin unit are 3.2 x 3.2, plus robe space. And bearing in mind retirees often have more time to cook and have often accumulated all appliances and crockery, our kitchens are very spacious.”
Why give up your kitchen space just as you get the time to cook? Photo: Goodwin.
But there’s another reason Goodwin kitchens, laundries, master bedrooms and ensuites have spacious specs.
While there’s a lot of attention on first-home buyers at the moment, Goodwin has turned its attention to serving the underserved “last-home buyers” market.
While the National Construction Code (NCC) standards require a percentage of retirement village units to be fully “adaptable” to Australian accessibility standards, Goodwin has elected to ensure that all its units comply.
“We don’t want people to have to move when their needs change,” Erik says.
“If they’re buying what they want to be their last home, it needs to be future-proofed.
“Besides, not everyone ends up needing to adapt their home for accessibility, but everyone benefits from that immediate feeling of space.”
Goodwin’s design choices feed into a broader mission to change the narrative around retirement.
Erik says retirement living is too often conflated with “aged living”.
In reality, the services offered, such as maintenance, gardening and reception to collect deliveries, help maintain and in some instances enhance independence, allowing people to get out and about and travel with peace of mind.
“I hear it from families and residents themselves all the time, that they get a new lease on life after moving here,” he says. “People tell me regularly that they just wish they’d made the move sooner.”
Social benefits also come from being part of a community of like-minded people.
“In a townhouse complex or apartment complex, you’re surrounded by people who are working, and there’s no social connection,” Erik says.
“In our retirement villages, we create spaces and programs to encourage people connect, so people find common or even new interests.
“Humans are social beings, connection is vital to our health and wellbeing.”
For more information, visit Goodwin Village Downer.
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