The Next Chapter: The evolving landscape of retirement living | UKREiiF Fringe Event

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In-Person Breakfast Seminar at UKREiiF | Wednesday 21 May 2025 | 07:45 - 09:00 | Free To Attend

Location: Horizon Leeds, 3rd Floor, 2 Brewery Wharf, Kendall Street, Leeds,‭ LS10 1NE (only 10 min walk from UKREiiF at Royal Armouries)

We are delighted to be hosting a breakfast seminar at UKREiiF 2025 in Leeds on Wednesday 21 May. 

The Older People’s Housing Taskforce Report revealed the senior living sector is seeing a growing demand for housing whilst tackling increasing legislation. Our panel of legal, housing and retirement living experts will be discussing the findings of the report, the opportunities for further growth and the role housing can play in reducing the need for health and care.

The panel will share their own experiences, advice to those looking to invest in the sector and what the next 12 months might hold. Further information is available in the 'Information for delegates' tab above. 

Learn more about the firm's award-winning healthcare transactional team.

Seminar Panel:

Sally Ireland, Director of Legal and Compliance, ARCO

Sally Ireland is a barrister and as Director of Legal and Compliance at ARCO, she oversees ARCO’s regulation of Integrated Retirement Communities in addition to leading ARCO’s work to develop the law to allow for further expansion of the sector. Sally’s legal work currently focuses on leasehold reform and the Retirement Occupancy Contract. She also supports the Board as ARCO’s Company Secretary.

Sally has practised in public and social care law in addition to working in policy and law reform in relation to regulated settings. Her degrees are in Law from the University of Cambridge and LLM from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Duncan Collins, Strategic Finance Director at McCarthy & Stone

As Strategic Finance Director at McCarthy Stone, the UK’s leading developer and manager of retirement communities, Duncan leads the exploration and development of new commercial propositions that drive growth and long-term value. Duncan’s role bridges innovation and financial strategy, focusing on sourcing investment and funding to support the continued evolution of their offering. He played a key role in establishing McCarthy Stone’s rental platform through a strategic partnership with John Laing, via their Brigid entity, helping to diversify McCarthy Stone’s business model and broaden their appeal to customers.

Duncan also works closely with public and private sector partners to enhance McCarthy Stone’s impact and returns. This includes securing grant funding from Homes England to support their affordable homes programme, as well as leading initiatives aimed at improving both customer experience and investor outcomes. With a passion for creating sustainable, customer-focused solutions, he helps shape the future of retirement living through strategic insight, financial acumen, and a commitment to delivering value at every level.

Hoong Wey Woon, Managing Director, DC Advisory

Hoong Wey Woon leads the UK Real Estate team at DC Advisory and is part of the global Healthcare team, bringing more than 20 years' experience in the investment banking space. 

Prior to joining, Hoong Wey was Head of Real Estate & Hospitality at Alantra and has completed over 100 transactions in M&A, capital raise and debt advice.

Kevin Beirne, Head of Retirement Living, Octopus

Kevin has over 30 years’ real estate experience and is an FCA Senior Manager, leading three Octopus Real Estate fund strategies. He joined ORE in 2018 as a member of the Management Team to head up senior living investment and sits on the Investment Committee.

Kevin leads an award-winning senior living investment team that has delivered the Schroders/Octopus Retirement Living Fund (ReLF) 2019 and Senior Living Investment Partners (SLIP) with Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) 2022. Both invest equity in development joint ventures with the UK’s highest quality integrated retirement community (IRC) operators with a combined Gross Development Value (GDV) of c£1.7bn. The team also manages the vertically integrated direct investment strategy via Rangeford Retirement Villages as well leading efforts to expand the IRC model into rental as a tenure, deploying £36m debt into Birchgrove in 2024, and Europe as a geography.

Kevin was one of the founders of Associated Retirement Community Operators (ARCO), the trade body for IRCs, has served two terms as an advisory board member for the Homes and Communities Agency (now Homes England), and spent five years on the National Housing Federation’s development committee.

Amanda Nurse, Co-Founder, Carterwood

Amanda is co-founder of Carterwood, a market-leading advisory and analytics business specialising in elderly care, retirement living, and domiciliary care. Carterwood launched in 2008 - mid-recession, naturally - with a simple but ambitious goal: to help clients maximise trading performance through sharper analysis and smarter strategy. Since then, Carterwood has built a brilliant team and an impressive track record supporting operators, developers, and investors across the UK. Their consultancy also plays a key role in planning applications, delivering needs assessments and sequential tests that stand up to scrutiny.

In 2018, Carterwood expanded into B2B SaaS, launching two digital platforms that provide instant access to postcode-level market data for care homes and retirement living schemes. Most recently, they introduced Collab Benchmarks - a game-changing initiative collecting quarterly trading data from the UK’s leading elderly care providers. As proud B Corp members, they are now focused on scaling into new markets across Europe, starting with Spain - where the demand is rising, investment is hot, and the need for innovation is even hotter.

Nick Thackray, Panel Chair, Bevan Brittan

Nick is a real estate Partner at Bevan Brittan based in Leeds with over 15 years’ experience in property development and private healthcare transactions. 

Nick works with developers, funders, and investors in relation to development schemes across the country as part of the firm’s award-winning healthcare transactional team.