Property developer plans 5,000 UK retirement homes in city centres

French-owned Retirement Villages Group aims to spend 2bn across 40 locations over the next decade

A property developer owned by a French investment management group has announced an ambitious 2bn plan to build 5,000 retirement homes across 40 urban sites in the UK over the next decade.

As town and city centres are being reshaped as a result of the changes to UK high streets accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic, Retirement Villages Group (RVG) said it had won planning permission for a 110m retirement community of 196 one and two-bed apartments to rent or buy in central West Byfleet in Surrey, on the site of a 1960s office block with shops and a car park, which will be knocked down.