L&G removes entire top team at retirement developer

In their place, Nick Edwards and Simon Century have been appointed as chief executive and chair of Inspired Villages.

Mr Edwards is former chief operating officer at retirement developer Audley Group, where he was responsible for growth, sales, marketing, operations, care, development, finance, technology and legal. Prior to this, he was chief financial officer at Moorfield Group.

Mr Century is managing director of housing at L&G and has a series of other chairmanships across L&G’s housing businesses.

Inspired Villages was founded in 2008 as English Care Villages, which ran two villages in Warwick and Cheshire prior to being purchased by L&G in 2017 for £40m. Homes in its villages are available to buy with the option to pay for care when residents need it.

Inspired Villages also worked with housing associations such as Places for People and Anchor to run some homes for rent. It is currently backed by a joint venture partnership between Legal & General and NatWest Group Pension Fund.

In its most recent published accounts for the year ending December 2023, Inspired Living posted a profit of £191,000 after tax and revenue of £17.2m. It had net liabilities of £13.8m, but said it was “confident” that L&G would “provide ongoing financial support”.

Mr Century said: “I am pleased to be able to announce the appointment of Nick. His wealth of experience and leadership experience in the later living sector and beyond makes him a terrific leader for the exciting next stages of the business.

“I look forward to working with him to drive forward the next stage of our growth plans for Inspired Villages. I’d also like to thank Jamie, Phil and the rest of their senior team for their significant contribution to the business.”