Observatory Village huge development over a relatively short period of time

• Published date: 12 August 2022
• Publication title: Oamaru Mail

Five years almost to the day since it opened, Oamaru Observatory Village Charitable Trust chairman Peter Robinson could not be happier with how the village is going

The retirement village and rest-home complex was initially planned to accommodate a predicted future need for aged care in Oamaru. Instead it arrived just in time to plug a gap, when existing rest-home, Rendell on Reed, closed its doors, followed by Totara.

When stage 1 of the development, which comprised 41 care beds and 12 apartments, was being built from 2015 to 2017, the trust was approached about taking over the running of Rendell on Reed, which housed close to 50 residents, Mr Robinson said.

‘‘So we negotiated a deal where we would run it, and lease the premises off the owner.

‘‘The advantage for us, was that when we opened in 2017, not only did we start with a full contingent of residents, we also already had most of our staff.’’

Rendell on Reed manager Rosie Dwyer made the move to Observatory Village, and more recently, the role had been taken on by Moira Kleigl.

‘‘So, they’ve made things run really smoothly,’’ Mr Robinson said.

Also, instead of the nine months they anticipated it would take to fill the beds, they were full from day one.

‘‘It was a heck of a day getting everyone up there — but having a full staff was fantastic.’’

The village and rest-home are run by two companies — Observatory Village Care Ltd and Observatory Village Life Care Ltd — which report to the Observatory Trust.

Along with Mr Robinson, the company directors are Clare Kearney and Michelle Sintmaartensdyk, while Oamaru lawyer Michael de Buyzer chairs the trust.

North Otago businessman and fellow trustee Ian Hurst was one of the driving forces behind the project and, before standing down about a year ago, had been Charitable Trust chairman and a company director.

Mr Hurst and brother Doug were already involved in the rest-home industry, and Mr Robinson was a shareholder in about 12 or 13 villages around New Zealand, he said.

‘‘So I was well aware, as were Doug and Ian ... of what was out there, and we had some professionals that we utilised, and used those people to then help the design.

‘‘So we basically took the best bits out of ones that we were aware of ... right around New Zealand. So we believe we’ve got a very, very good facility here.’’

In July, 2018, 20 care beds were added, and another 20 in May 2019, taking the total to the current 81.

A further 10 apartments were built in 2019, and 10 more in 2020 —...