Uniting Advances $90m Senior Living Upgrade at Emu Plains

Aged-care and senior living developer Uniting, an arm of the Uniting Church in Australia, has launched plans for a senior housing development upgrade at Emu Plains.

Uniting is proposing a development at 1-11 Emerald Street and 6-8 Troy Street as part of its Edinglassie Village masterplan in the suburb, 58km west of the Sydney CBD. The project is set to cost upwards of $91 million. 

Uniting Edinglassie was opened in the early 1970s and “has consistently enjoyed very high occupancy rates”.

Despite efforts to maintain the property and its features, the style of the accommodation was not in keeping with contemporary market demand in terms of unit sizes, features—for example balconies and carparking—and community services such as clubroom, pool and gym, the development application said.

Uniting commissioned GroupGSA to the develop the plans, which involve the construction of 146 units across five buildings with a communal clubhouse, as well as carparking for 112.

The current independent living units and housing will be demolished to make way for the development, which will sit parallel to the Great Western Highway.

A newly finished residential aged-care service, which provides 100 beds catering to the needs of residents requiring a high level of care, including those with dementia, is already onsite.

Uniting has facilities in Penrith, Blacktown, Hawkesbury and Springwood, and the company said it intended to enhance this network of services. 

▲ The Uniting Church’s development arm has been involved in a number of projects in NSW.

While there are eight retirement living services in the area, some including aged care, Uniting said it expected the population of older people in the area to grow considerably between 2020 and 2030. 

The number of people aged 70 and over will rise to 11.3 per cent of the local population, it said, an increase of 21.5 per cent, whilst those 80 and above will make up 4.2 per cent of the catchment, an increase of 50 per cent. 

“Uniting’s vision for Edinglassie is to provide accommodation to support the needs of the ongoing and growing ageing population in the Penrith area,” the developers said.

The Uniting Church has a number of other projects in the works, including a 16-storey Parramatta development that was approved last year as well as a $148-million Central Coast development that it was forced to downsize after community pressure.