ECH planning $40 million, multistorey apartment-style retirement home for Modbury

One of South Australia’s biggest aged-care providers wants to build a multistorey apartment-style retirement village at Modbury.

One of South Australia’s biggest aged-care providers wants to build a multistorey retirement village at Modbury.

ECH will lodge plans with Tea Tree Gully Council this month for a $40 million complex on a former carpark on Smart Rd, near Tea Tree Plaza.

Extensive planning has gone into designing two buildings – one three-storey, the other six-storey – for the sloping 9700sq m site.

Key features include a child care centre, allied health suite, large community garden, cafe, gymnasium, respite care and 60 to 70 apartments.

ECH general manager of environments Dorothy Nycz said the company operated 104 retirement villages, including two apartment buildings at Glenelg and in the city.

“Modbury presents for us our first opportunity since the 1970s to build an apartment-style retirement village,” she said.

Artist impression of the proposed ECH multistorey aged-care facility for Modbury.

“The rear of the site will be retirement village apartments, while the street frontage will be all about community and putting out the welcome mat.”

Ms Nycz said ECH had decided to locate a childcare centre within the complex to encourage interaction between young children, their parents and older residents.

It also wanted them to be involved with creating and maintaining a large communal garden, which would be the dominant central feature.

Ms Nycz said ECH had chosen the Smart Rd site – which cost $5 million – because of its proximity to Modbury Hospital, the Torrens Linear Path, Tea Tree Plaza, a medical centre, swimming pool and ECH’s 115-unit village at Modbury.

Artist impression of the proposed ECH aged-care complex in Modbury.

ECH was determined to create a new model for independent living at Modbury, with a particular focus on encouraging contact between residents through redesigning the corridors of its multi-storeyed buildings, with each apartment having an alcove entry.

“We are really wanting to create a village atmosphere where people can either connect with each other or have their own privacy,” Ms Nycz said.

“We didn’t want corridors like hotels where the doors are solid so we are putting in screen doors as well as a solid front door.

“This gives people the choice to either shut them or leave them open so they can see each other if they want to and harness natural light.”

ECH was excited about the potential for the Modbury development.

“We want it to be different with what can be done with a traditional apartment setting,” Ms Nycz said. “It just needs someone to be brave enough to activate it – and we are hoping to be that organisation.”