New seniors' complex boasts homely environment, careful services and diversified activities
The layout of the community.
The first foreign-capital-financed senior living community in the Yangtze River Delta Ecology and Greenery Integration Demonstration Zone opened over the weekend.
It will provide cross-region senior care options for the elderly in Shanghai and the entire Yangtze River Delta region.
The "Ardor Gardens" complex located on the bank of the beautiful Dianshan Lake in Qingpu District has a garden-style environment. Covering about 85,000 square meters, it has a green coverage of nearly 40 percent.
It has about 800 apartments that can accommodate around 1,300 residents. The first phase of six buildings with nearly 250 apartments has started operation.
Construction of the rest is scheduled to be completed within one year.
The complex features senior-friendly designs based on their health conditions and safety demands, such as barrier-free doors accessible to people in wheelchairs, arc angle wood furniture, handles at bathroom, and eco-friendly features like solar water-heating systems on rooftops.
Smart technologies are featured at the community as well.
Robots will deliver meals to residents' doorways, and one-click alarm systems with positioning functions will enable staff to locate seniors in case of emergencies.
A senior and a girl enjoy calligraphy at the community over the weekend.
Residents exercise.
Meanwhile, activity applications, service appointments and health management can all be made with one click via the community's app.
Smart bracelets that can measure health data such as blood pressure and step numbers are delivered to elderly residents.
The community also has a range of facilities, such as fitness and yoga areas, a swimming pool, cafe, teahouse and reading room. Health lectures, DIY, dancing classes, calligraphy, flower arrangement and aromatherapy experience courses are also on offer.
It mainly serves seniors between the ages of 60 and 75 living in Shanghai and nearby cities, according to Lendlease, the community's foreign-funded developer and operator.
The community has welcomed the first batch of seniors over the weekend. Nearly one third or their children have experiences living overseas.
They share similarities such as open-mind, are vigorous, keen to try fresh things, and pursue high-quality life experiences, the operator said.
A resident, surnamed Zhang, who is in his 60s, said: "Unlike traditional senior homes, the community is more like a resort, it has a homey environment with careful services and diversified activities".
Ardor Gardens general manager Marc Donnelly, said: "The vision is to create a senior living lifestyle resort with hospitality, superior service, genuine care and vitality".
At the end of 2020, Shanghai's population aged 60 and above reached 5.33 million, or 36.1 percent of permanent residents, up 3 percent from 2019. Among them, 825,300 were 80 or older, and there were 3,000 centenarians.
