The retirement village pioneer has experienced the ups and downs of property development in 2018, with construction under way on a new project near Marsden Point but a red light on controversial plans for a luxury village in London.
Having outlaid £11 million for the Gondar Gardens reservoir site in West Hampstead, Cook’s Guernsey-registered LifeCare Residences business faced a storm of protest over plans to build 82 self-care retirement apartments that would complement its other UK villages in Battersea, Hampshire and Dorset.
Now subject to appeal, the Camden Council rejected the Gondor Gardens proposal on numerous grounds including the lack of affordable housing, lack of inclusiveness and unacceptable traffic increases. Locals were also concerned about the threat to biodiversity because the site is home to rare flora and protected species such as bats, slow worms and grass snakes.
The founder of Metlifecare, which he sold out of in 2005, Cook is having more luck with the new Bream Bay Village at Ruakaka where construction has commenced on a property that offers “an enriched, independent lifestyle that includes a bowling green and summer house.” It’s a 66/33 partnership with Auckland developer Paul Gray. Two-bedroom villas at Bream Bay are selling from $490,000.
Cook’s other New Zealand interests include the Remuera Rise and Waiheke Retirement villages, which operate as LifeCare Residences and are independently managed by Andrew Edwards as part of a succession plan. “We’ve been working on succession planning for some time” says Cook, and “I’m very comfortable that we’ve done what’s required to ensure succession.”
In addition to property interests, 68-year-old Cook has a keen interest in the fortunes of A2 Milk, which he chaired for more than a decade until his resignation in 2015. Having whittled his original A2 shareholding of 50% down to less than 5%, he still has a stake that’s worth almost $300 million. “It was a wonderful involvement and I’m proud of what we achieved there.”
No stranger to philanthropy, Cook donated $5m to Auckland University’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences in 2018 to establish a chair of ‘ageing well’ research in honour of his late mother Joyce who was a nurse and became chairwomen of the Residential Care Association.