Optimising Facilities Provision in Retirement Villages - A Case Study in Australia

Facilities are very essential components that support the living requirements of residents in terms of quality of life, independence, security and sound health in both for-profit and not-for-profit retirement villages (RV). In contrast to the for-profit RV, the operation of the not-for-profit RV is mainly characterised by budget constraints, which poses significant challenges for the not-for-profit RV developers to provide facilities that can satisfy the living requirements of residents. Therefore, this study aimed to explore optimal strategies on facilities provision for the not-for-profit RV developers. Based on the theoretical framework of value engineering (VE) that defines the concept of value as the ratio of the function to cost of facilities to RV residents, this report first develop a value engineering model (VEM) to operationalise this relationship. After that, the VEM is demonstrated in a case study of a not-for-profit RV in Queensland, Australia. The case study grouped facilities into high value, low value, and zero value categories. This study further reveals that the value of the facilities in RV are experienced by the residents in terms of religious participation, care, social interaction, physical engagements and mobility. This reinforces the need of providing appropriate housing option for older people that satisfies their living requirements of independence, socialisation, health care, and improved quality of life. Finally, the VEM can be employed to effectively identify the facility requirements of old people in not only retirement villages, but also other housing options, thus contributes to the improvement of accommodation quality for older people.