After noticing a major need in the retirement-village market, Stellenbosch property-development company Lazercor has launched the exciting new Monte Christo Retirement Village. The state-of-the-art complex is designed to provide a dignified and secure lifestyle for the retirement years. It is set in the picturesque Garden Route town of Mossel Bay, which, according to the Guinness Book of Records, boasts the second best temperate climate in the world after Hawaii.

The Lazercor team has researched the retirement village market locally and internationally and identified a desperate need for more retirement villages in South Africa, with waiting lists standing at a shocking period of between seven and nine years. Lazercor director Mark Teuchert, a civil engineer with a Master’s in property, has been in the construction industry for more than 30 years.

“We have developed properties in every sector of the market and we follow economists very closely so that we don’t develop where there is no need. At the time that we looked at taking on this project, there was a desperate need for retirement villages in the country,” Teuchert says.

“When researching the retirement-property industry, we saw that many other companies that develop retirement villages do so in a way that the developer gets some annuity financial reward at the expense of retired people. We didn’t take this approach, because it just did not make sense to take away from the elderly and because we believe in giving people rights to their property.”

In November 2006, Lazercor bought just less than four hectares of land in Mossel Bay on which to build one of the most technologically advanced retirement villages in the country. They envisioned a community that would provide its inhabitants with physical safety, financial security and first-class health care in their retirement years.

Special attention went into each phase of the project to make sure that security was covered on all fronts. Financially, Monte Christo will be attached to a levy-stabilisation fund. In terms of health care, the village will offer a nurse on duty at all times and an ambulance service in case of any emergencies. The medical staff will cater for a range of different needs: from residents who need 24-hour frail care, to those who require a caregiver for just a few hours a day.

The physical security features of the village are the most impressive, placing access to emergency care at the residents’ fingertips. The village will be fitted with a state-of-the-art web-based security-camera system, with cameras in most areas of the village and electric fencing all around it. Visitors will be monitored by camera when entering and leaving the premises, while access for residents will work with fingerprint- and facial-recognition technology.

“One very important aspect for us was access to emergency services. People in retirement homes often have accidents and cannot access emergency services easily enough when trying to get to a phone somewhere else in the room. We have developed a Personal Emergency Management System (PEMS), which is about half the size of a cellphone and is kept on the person all the time. If the person should fall, the device will pick up the acceleration and send a message to one of the nurses on duty or to any other email address or cellphone number the person wants the device linked to,” explains Teuchert.

The device also has a panic button and is linked to a GPS system. When the panic button is activated, a screen in the control room will show where in the village the resident is, as well as immediately bringing up the person’s medical history.

For day-to-day convenience, all the telephones in the homes will be linked to a highly advanced intercom system, allowing residents to make calls to each other and to care staff free of charge. Each apartment will also have a video phone and an internet connection so that residents can keep in touch with their children and other family members.

The development will consist of three phases: Phase 1, Single Residential which will offer 43 single residential houses; Phase 2, De Caravel, will consist of 56 apartments located close to medical-care facilities and other amenities, including a clubhouse and all the amenities that go therewith  and Phase 3, Berglangs, will be made up of 49 apartments. So far three houses have been completed, while all the roads and other services have been installed. Construction on the rest of the development is set for completion in April 2012.

Project manager for Lazercor, Stephen Kreuger, says three couples have already moved into the houses and have expressed their satisfaction with Monte Christo’s services and facilities. He says, “That has definitely been the most rewarding thing about this project, seeing the first few people move in and enjoy the village.”
For interviews or more information, contact Stephen Kreuger, Project Manager for Lazercor.
Tel: 072 3365 337
Website: www.lazercor.com