ID111 Reimagining Keele campus as a multigenerational community

The Idea

In the 1980s Keele, under the leadership of Brian Fender, was a pioneer reimagining the campus as a space for knowledge exchange and innovation in the West Midlands through close proximity of business and research in the Keele Science and Innovation Park.

The campus is already home to our students and existing and retired colleagues. It provides a wide array of facilities and amenities for these communities including a health centre, post office, supermarket, sports centre, arts and culture and extensive outdoor spaces.

At the same time, Keele has a strong track record in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research into ageing spanning all three Faculties (Medicine, Allied Health Professionals, Geography, Psychology, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Law to name a few areas).

We have the opportunity to take this further and reimagine the campus more widely as a living space for multigenerational communities. In particular, we could explore the idea to create a university-based retirement community in partnership with local providers of adult social care. A model for this exists in the United States at universities like Stanford, Lasell University, University of Florida and Notre Dame that have introduced university-linked retirement communities. 

This is written as a blue sky idea with the aim to open up conversations for reimagining the campus.

Why This Idea Should Be Considered

A university-based retirement community would provide new and increased revenue streams across the year and would not be subject to typical seasonality.

It could strengthen existing partnership with Staffordshire County Council through the creation of additional tailored housing solutions for over 55s with the potential effect of relieving housing pressures in the local community.

It can create new and strengthen existing partnerships locally with the NHS and adult social care providers through:

• building more placement and work experience opportunities for students on campus (Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Clinic as model);
• expanding the opportunities for existing multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research excellence into ageing through the creation of a living lab.

How We Would Implement This Idea

This would necessitate a collective, collaborative and co-creational approach bringing together a number of departments within the university, stakeholders and partners:

• Estates' Department, Keele Sports Centre, Keele GP Practice, Transformation Team
• Keele colleagues with expertise in ageing research from Medicine and Health Professionals, Geography, Psychology, Law (Ethics, Health and Social Care Research Cluster), Humanities and Social Sciences.
• Stakeholders and partners from Third Sector, Local Authorities, Health and Keele Residents. 

What Success Would Look Like

Success would look like Keele University successfully reimagining its campus as a vibrant, multigenerational community. The success would be marked by the seamless integration of the retirement community with the current campus environment, fostering a dynamic and inclusive atmosphere for students, staff, and retirees alike.