Summerset Celebrates 25th Birthday

A quarter of a century ago, the doors to the first Summerset village opened, borne from a desire to create a home good enough for founder John O’Sullivan’s beloved nana. Now, a quarter of a century on, Summerset have grown from humble grassroots beginning in Whanganui to a publicly listed, trans-Tasman company, with 32 villages across New Zealand and Australia, and 17 more in the pipeline. Summerset’s guiding principle is still the conviction that their villages must be good enough for mum and dad, but more than that, they want to bring the best of life to their residents.

In her 90s, John’s grandmother had become unwell and had moved from her home into a publicly funded geriatric ward. John was disgusted at the lack of space and privacy on offer and felt it was an affront to her dignity.

“My nana was in what was basically a dormitory with only a plastic curtain between beds,” John remembers. “The room she had was so pokey you could stretch out your arms and touch all four walls. And all facilities were shared – nothing was hers; nothing was private. When I investigated the market, I found aged care was all like that.”

Care for the elderly had always been the preserve of the state, but in the late 1990s the government was looking to move out of it. John, along with his wife Rose, called upon their combined background in hotel management, property development, and geriatric nursing, and in 1997 bought the site of the former East Whanganui Tennis Club.

Their original goal was to provide a higher calibre of rest home level care, but John decided to build a few units on the excess land. These units proved extremely popular with seniors who wanted to keep their independence but liked the reassurance that help would be at hand if needed, thus creating a retirement lifestyle that offered a continuum of care.

Summerset’s Operations Business Manager Sonia Pratt was working in Whanganui at the time. “The idea of a retirement village was so new to Whanganui. It added another dimension of life for older people. I remember it being very flash, and lots of people wanted to go and have a look. There was a lot of talk about the villas being high-end and the gardens being well looked after. The new village was about inclusion and community, and that was all very new at the time.”

With the ethos of community and quality front of mind John and Rose brought on their accountant Norah Barlow to help grow Summerset. A vital partnership, John had the vision and the nerve to buy the land, while Norah drove the finances and ensured ideas became reality. Norah became Summerset’s first CEO and was a driving force in turning Summerset from a small family run business to an NZX listed company with a staff of over 2,000 and multiple offices across the country. “Listing Summerset meant that we could build with equity, rather than debt from the bank. We made it clear to shareholders that rather than paying big dividends, we would be putting the profits back in to our villages.”

This principle of reinvestment has allowed Summerset to continue to explore how to do things better, for their residents, their staff, and the environment. A house is made a home through personal touches so residents can customise their villas, gardens and bring their pets along too. To foster community spirit, villages hold weekly Happy Hour drinks, usually in the village centre, although during Covid-19 village golf carts were repurposed as mobile bars visiting residents! Every village has an activity coordinator who plans outings and adventures to the local areas and beyond. Covid-19 gave the company an opportunity to bring some activities online, including their monthly Big Quiz, Cooking with a MasterChef, and “An Interview With…” series which are just some of the activities residents across the country can access at the same time.

Summerset knows security and peace of mind is paramount. Five years ago, they introduced the first of their industry leading memory care centres, which offer apartment style living designed specifically for residents living with dementia. Summerset are an accredited dementia friendly organisation, and all staff undertake dementia training. They have also invested in Kaitiaki - wellbeing assistants - to provide their most vulnerable residents with quality time and activities.

Sustainability and environmentally kind are not merely buzzwords to Summerset. They know that building new communities can be resource intensive, which is why recent initiatives include solar panels in Summerset in the Sun and redesigning their village centres with sustainability and futureproofing top of mind. Summerset is also the only retirement village operator in New Zealand to be a signatory to the Climate Leaders Coalition, which has the aim of mitigating businesses’ effect upon the environment.

Finally, Summerset thinks that the secret of its success across 25 years is the people who work there. All Summerset permanent staff receive shares in the company, and they pride themselves on paying top dollar for nurses and care workers. But it’s more than just about the perks. Summerset staff believe in the company ethos and mission, which is to bring the best of life to their residents.

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