Kangara Waters, Canberra
Project Selection
Kangara Waters may contain a number of the following features but it has been identified by the Steering Committee specifically because it:
| Mixes people from diverse socio economic levels | |
| Caters to a range of age groups | |
| Offers a diversity in service types | |
| Employs community engagement in the development process | Y |
| Is an innovative model designed to accommodate ageing in place | |
| Provides housing options for a particular population groups | |
| Has undertaken conversions and/or changes of use of existing facilities | |
| Uses mixed financial funding bases | |
| Has demonstrable Environmentally Sustainable Design features |
The following project description comes from the aged care and seniors living provider IRT (Illawarra Retirement Trust), builder/owner/operator of Kangara Waters. http://www.irt.org.au/kangara/
Project Overview
Kangara Waters was opened in 2009 and is set on a 7.5 hectare site overlooking Lake Ginninderra in Belconnen, ACT. The development consists of 94 independent living apartments and 56 villas. The design is to enable residents to age in place, although a 100-bed residential care facility is also available within the development.
Why is Kangara Waters an innovative project?
The community engagement facilitated by Kangara Waters has enhanced its commercial success. The process used by Illawarra Retirement Trust (IRT) created a foundation for a sense of community before the project was built.
In 2006, IRT hosted information sessions at the Australian War Memorial which attracted around 600 people from an Expressions of Interest list they had compiled. IRT then invited the people on this list to pay a deposit and become officially waitlisted. Those waitlisted continued to be involved through ongoing information sessions and social occasions.
In 2008, the Circle of Friends concept was coined for this community and functions were held to encourage people to get to know each other and share the ongoing milestones in the development of their new home. The ongoing development of community has underpinned the success of the Kangara Waters development for IRT and shaped the future growth methodology for the company.
Built Environment
Features of the Kangara Waters community include:
A small scale piazza and promenade designed for meeting, socialising and community activities.
A community centre which incorporates two multi-function halls fitted with movie projection equipments and hearing loops, catering facilities, a reflection room and a cafe.
A wellness therapy centre containing a gymnasium, physiotherapy and health professional consulting rooms, an indoor hydrotherapy pool, a hairdresser and an outdoor pool.
All buildings were designed to minimise resource usage, particularly in the Canberra environment of extreme heat and cold and the impact this has upon elderly residents. This also has the effect of a demonstrable reduction in annual household running costs which is a high priority for the retired residents.
The development includes the following energy and water efficiency initiatives:
Service Model
Kangara Waters is based on an inclusive design which encompasses ageing independently in a non-gated community with the support to age in place or the option of residential care.
Residents are supported to age in place through individualised ‘community packages’ provided in homes. The residential care facility houses many of the community amenities and acts as a housing alternative if residents should choose to move.
The Kangara Waters development model of service integrated housing, was supported by 2003 IRT research which showed that residents living within this type of environment needed support later in life, less often and for a shorter period of time than their peers who remain living in the family home.
Who the project serves
Kangara Waters residents are predominately from the wider ACT community, where 14% of the population or 47,000 people, were aged 65+ in 2006, many of them living in North Canberra which is why the ACT Government planned for the establishment of a seniors’ community.
Funding Sources
Kangara Waters is a $99 million development built by the IRT in an ongoing financial partnership with the Westpac Bank.
Kangara Waters residents purchase independent living units with an ingoing contribution fee, the prices ranging from $375,000 for a two-bedroom apartment or $430,000 for a two-bedroom villa to $618,000 for a three-bedroom apartment or $597,000 for a three-bedroom villa. Kangara Waters offers three entry or purchase options:
Option 1 – ingoing contribution with 5% retentions for a maximum of 5 years (max 25%)
Option 2 – ingoing contribution with 2% retentions for a maximum of 5 years (max 10%)
Option 3 – fully refundable ingoing contributions
Residents pay a fortnightly recurrent charge for services. When a resident leaves their independent unit or dies, the ingoing contribution fee is returned less retentions if that is the option they have entered under.
All independent residents can pay to receive increasing support within their independent living unit to support Ageing in Place, with this care being subsidised by government-funded community care packages if the resident has been appropriately assessed by the Aged Care Assessment Service.
Residents living in the residential care facility pay a bond when they enter care, unless they are one of the 19% fully supported residents entering care under a Government-supported concession place. All residential care residents pay an ongoing daily care fee on a fortnightly basis.
Project Auspice
IRT is Australia’s largest not for profit, community based, aged care and seniors living provider (BRW, Nov 2008). Today IRT provides care and accommodation to almost 5000 older Australians, and employs about 1800 staff in NSW and ACT.
Dr Max Diment had a vision to create communities where older people achieve their optimum quality of life. With a small group of like-minded community members supporting him IRT began, developing the first independent seniors’ high rise living in Wollongong’s CBD with Diment Towers in 1971, providing both self care and nursing home services. Today IRT has 36 operating sites and its services include specialised support, housing for disadvantaged and homeless older people, catering and education.
Postscript
In 2003 IRT investigated the role purpose built environments can play in enhancing the independence of older Australians by delaying the age at which they enter into residential aged care or access community care services. In 2010 they updated the data and results showed that on average, seniors living in a purpose built community require access to both forms of aged care (Residential and Community Services), later in life. For admission to Residential Aged Care the purpose built environment added an extra four years on average, while those requiring Community Services were two years older than their peers in the broader community.
