Navigating the balancing act – $148 million augmented overhaul of Nareen Gardens retirement village goes ahead after strong community resistance

It’s been over five years since the development application was lodged by Uniting to overhaul Nareen Garden retirement village and residential aged care in Bateau Bay, NSW. However, this week saw the application, which has gone through multiple iterations, come into the real world with residents relocated and perimeter fencing being erected. The $148 million project has seen stiff community resistance with concerns over bulk, scale and density, alongside loss of privacy, traffic and safety. And yet at the same time, advocates in the area and across Australia have called for balance, as the growing needs of meeting the country’s large boomer demographic come up against limited infrastructure, beds shortages and multi-sector consequences.

Progress in partnership

While the fencing has gone up, and temporary site sheds have been put together, before the demolition of the existing single storey buildings can begin, the development by Uniting at Bateau Bay has an extra step to provide communication channels with the community.

A community drop-in opportunity is set to be held on Thursday where Uniting has indicated it will have representatives available to share further details about the construction project and the plans for its management.

While slightly unusual, the move comes in the face of consistent, vocal and stiff opposition to the overhaul of the site from a community worried about what it will bring. While many in the industry are aware of the staggering need of upgrades and bed builds to meet Australia’s growing demand of aged care, Uniting’s journey in Bateau Bay is an important reminder of the dynamics that providers must be able to contend with to see projects break ground.

To enable projects to successfully move forward, there may be times, such as Uniting has found, where persistence and compromise must be entered into. The resilience, patience and sympathy needed by Uniting’s leadership, in pursuing the project in the environment at Bateau Bay and listening to the concerns of locals, speaks to the qualities of leadership that Australians of all ages and perspectives need on aged care development.

Original intent

The original development application was provided to the Central Coast Council in 2021. What it contained was plans for a redevelopment project for 160 residential aged care spots, with an additional 232 independent living units across six separate multi-storey blocks.

With a current bed capacity of around 100 beds, the development was to see a 60 spot increase towards the stratospheric RAC numbers that Australia is predicted to need to meet future demand, as well as a sizable increase in the independent living spots.

Community backlash

Local media on NSW’s central coast has been tracking with the backlash since its inception. From the early days in 2021, members of the community pushed against the plans. What eventuated was a response from Uniting to reduce the scale of the development by around 20%. An entire building was removed from the plan, top floors from three of the buildings were voided, and the last two saw their footprint reduced.

Central coast outlets note that the resistance was in the hundreds, describing it as a strong campaign resisting the redevelopment on the basis of bulk, scale, density, loss of privacy in both visual and acoustic metrics, and worries over over-shadowing, traffic and pedestrian safety.

Those opposing the plans called it a “vertical village”, pointing to high density cities or inner-city areas being a more fitting location for the redevelopment.

However, others in the same community lent their voice to recognising the profound need of increased seniors’ housing, services and options for those ageing in the area. A Social Impact Assessment conducted affirmed these calls, citing that the current and future needs of other locals ageing in the Central Coast required options that would come through the redevelopment and increased capacity of aged-care living and health services.

Final plans

Close to two years after the first application lodgment, the Regional Planning Panel indicated it was satisfied with the multiple modifications that had been applied to the original.

The Panel conveyed the new plan could better meet the standard of “better environment” to age-in-place, now set to deliver 182 independent living units (some falling under affordable housing classification). The 160-bed residential aged care maintained its numbers, highlighting the cross-government sentiment of needing to support significant RAC bed build-up.

Timeline

Advocates across the nation have voiced frustration with the delay in new developments. Uniting’s Head of Property Development, Adrian Ciano shares the timeline of the stages of the redevelopment at Nareen gardens. Builds, particularly managing noise, cost and quality are indicated to take time.

He comments that 76 of the 182 independent living units may take up to two years to complete before seniors are able to take up residence.

The following two years will see the rest of 106 independent living units built, along with the 160-bed RAC facility.

Balancing views

Erin Breneger is the spokesperson for the group Bateau Bay Community Collective. She shares some of the community’s fears surrounding the construction phase, “I don’t think people realise the gravity of the impact that four to five years of construction will have on the residents in the surrounding streets – and even the residents that are still living there.”

“We did what we could … and it was never about us saying, no we don’t want this to happen, it was just (do it) within reason”, Mrs Breneger says.

Ciano has publicly acknowledged the need for communication and compromise, while seeking a balanced outcome, “this project’s been a long haul for everybody, and we obviously understand these things have an impact on people … and we are thankful that with all the hard work we think it’s a balanced outcome.”

“We certainly think there’s a significant need for these services and this accommodation in the area and people obviously want to age in the community they live in, so we are trying to contribute and meet that demand by investing in this community – a community we’ve been part of delivering services to for a really, really long time.”