Aldridge joins McCarthy Stone

Previously national property director for Aldi, Ciaran Aldridge joins the retirement living specialist as its Northern division’s managing director.

Aldridge had headed the expansive supermarket group’s property division since 2016, and worked for the firm for 16 years in total.

He started last month at McCarthy Stone, for whom he will work out of both the York and Altrincham offices.

Aldridge is now responsible for a division that is currently selling across 28 developments. The division also has 11 retirement communities under construction and its land team is looking to buy at least 12 new sites per year.

He will manage the division’s land and construction budget which will total around £250m over the next three years.

John Tonkiss, chief executive of McCarthy Stone, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Ciaran to the business. He has superb knowledge and experience of the development world given his time at Aldi and will be integral to helping us open new high-quality and affordable retirement communities across the North.”

Aldridge added: “Our ageing population means we need to provide more and better housing options for those in later life so I’m hugely excited about joining McCarthy Stone. I will use my extensive experience of the land market to help more older people enjoy the many benefits of living in a retirement community.”

In the post, Aldridge will also be responsible for rolling out McCarthy Stone’s new multi tenure and affordability strategy in the North, aimed at helping older homeowners with lower equity levels buy a retirement property.

This strategy is centred around providing private rental options as well as a new affordable shared ownership tenure, where customers can purchase up to 75% of a retirement apartment.