First New Nursing Home in €250 Million Healthcare Investment
BlackBee Group has announced that it is about to move to planning on the first new nursing home under its new €250 million healthcare investment fund. The site, at Glanmire in County Cork, will be part of a group that will ultimately become Ireland’s largest residential care group.
The new nursing home will be the first new-build to operate under the Aperee brand. As it launched the fund to investors in Dublin, BlackBee also confirmed that they are looking to include separate crèche/montesorri schools on its new sites to maximise the international experience of younger and older persons daily interactions.
Blackbee has also revealed that it is in advanced negotiations on the purchase of two existing nursing homes in the Munster region.
BlackBee group’s healthcare fund has recently received approval from the Central Bank of Ireland. The fund aims to raise €250 million to invest in the acquisition and development of state-of-the-art care homes, with the money being targeted from both institutional and professional private investors. Already, BlackBee has secured a commitment from investors of €30 million.
The investment will initially see the construction of 1,000 new state of the art single ensuite beds and the acquisition of 750 existing beds operating under a new brand, Aperee. Over 1,500 new jobs will be created, 1,000 existing jobs will be sustained and a further 800 will be supported, under these plans, during construction.
BlackBee Group sees this as an investment that will set new care standards, offers transformative social impact, whilst simultaneously driving the economy.
Ireland’s population currently has 637,000 over 65s and 67,000 over 85s. By 2040 it is estimated that this will increase to a staggering 1.2 million over 65s and 216,000 over 85s. Ireland has a current supply of approximately 30,000 residential beds but by 2040 the demand will need to increase to approximately 59,000.
David O’Shea (pictured left), Executive Director of BlackBee Group, says: “Through this innovative healthcare fund, the first of its kind in Ireland, we plan to use private investment to revolutionise the residential care home market and invest in communities across the country. This fund is designed to show how the private sector can actively support the public sector by providing a supply of quality care home beds to meet the rapidly growing demand. Investors will benefit from a real return, while those using the homes will still have prices set by the National Treatment Purchase Fund. Residents and their families will benefit from Aperee’s expertise and a new standard of care at the same cost as its competitors.”
The operational arm of the fund, Aperee, will be led by CEO Paul Kingston (pictured right), who has over 22 years experience in the residential care sector. Paul Kingston says: “There has been significant interest in the Aperee brand since its launch. We plan on creating a network of top quality nursing homes operating to the highest standards, with innovative features that serve both the community who live there and those living around them. In our new developments, our homes will be designed as ‘enabling environments’ which maximise functional ability and wellbeing for our residents, and will be designed and planned using design elements such as lighting, colour, acoustics, layout and landscape design to take account of the residents needs. we are working with a leading international design firm to achieve this.”
Planning permission is expected to be lodged for the first new-build Aperee Nursing Home within weeks.
