Mr. Lovelock: McCarthy & Stone is the leading developer of purpose-built private retirement accommodation in the UK. Our customer profile, generally speaking, tends to be a woman aged about 74, perhaps recently widowed, and no longer needs to live in a big house. We build in or close to town centers, which provides our customers with convenience and accessibility benefits. We are also particular focused on security and customer care, because we recognize that is an important requirement for the older home-owner. The company is quoted in the construction/ housebuilding sector, but we're in a niche market and we are therefore not wholly comparable with most house builders. We are pioneering company. We were the first to launch into this private retirement sector and we are still market leader, constructing between 65% or 70% of all units currently. In fact, competitors only have a small impact on what we do, because there are a number of barriers to entry into this market. For example, one of the problems for people entering this market is the long cycle. From the time we identify a piece of land, achieve planning consent, do the construction, and sell out the development; you're talking about 4 to 5 years. So it is a big commitment, and it is important to get the location right and understand the market. That is something that does put a number of house builders off.
TWST: Do you manage the retirement complexes as well?
Mr. Lovelock: That used to be one of McCarthy & Stone’s activities but no longer. There was a management buyout of that company about 10 years ago and we now have a trading agreement with the company. We are in a position where we can ensure the management is up to scratch and if the standards we expect are not met, then we have the opportunity to change them. But we have no major problems with them at present. Therefore, we set it up, make sure it works, and then we move on to the next scheme. It is a key point because we are very conscious of how important customer care is. We have always paid a lot of attention to our customer, which differentiates us further from the typical housebuilder. We research the product regularly, we do a survey amongst our purchasers to find out what they think, and we tweak the product where required; if there aren't enough cupboards, if there are light fittings in the wrong places, we will make the changes. There are no major changes currently, but we are fine-tuning the product all the time.
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