First stage of big Halswell retirement village nears completion

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

Christchurch will get another retirement village when the first stage of Halswell’s $210 million Banbury Park opens in May.

The development, designed to resemble a subdivision with stand-alone houses built along streets, is going up on a 14-hectare site between Milns and Sparks roads.

It will have 191 houses, 42 apartments, a rest home with hospital and dementia care, and facilities including a pool and a restaurant. All buildings will be single or double storey.

The complex is being built by Qestral Corporation, a Christchurch company headed by Ryman Healthcare founder John Ryder, which develops upscale retirement villages.

Qestral bought the farmland for about $6.6m in 2019, most of it from Christchurch developer and investor the Carter Group, owned by Philip Carter.

Ryder said the first 12 homes finished would be followed by another 24, and completing the development would take five years.

The project has been expanded to cover an extra 2ha from when it was first announced, and construction costs have risen, Ryder said. The original budget was $160m.

The Banbury Park site is immediately south of the Meadowlands subdivision being built by Danne Mora Holdings, with 155 sections in six stages. It is just north of land owned by the Carter Group which is also earmarked for residential development.

Banbury Park’s houses will be from 116 square metres to 230sqm in size, while the apartments will be part of the main facilities building.

Banbury Park is being built in Halswell by Qestral Corporation.

As with other retirement villages, occupants will buy a right to occupy only, and will not own their homes.

Christchurch already has about 50 retirement villages, of which Burlington in Redwood and Alpine View in Marshland are both owned by Qestral.

Ryder said since establishing its first two complexes in the city, they had been made aware of demand for retirement homes in the southwestern suburbs.

“Halswell is a hugely busy area for construction and new housing – there’s been a huge amount of interest from people around the area,” he said.

The company also owns the Coastal View retirement village in Nelson and is developing others in Hamilton and Whangarei as part of a development programme costing more than $750m.

Other retirement villages planned for the Christchurch area include Ryman’s complexes in Park Tce in the central city and Main North Rd in Northwood, while fellow operator Summerset plans to build on land it has bought at South Belt in Rangiora, and Springs Rd in Prebbleton.