Scottish care home operator Renaissance is looking to lead the way in a "new type of consolidation" across the industry as it seeks to double the size of its business within the next five years.

Chairman Robert Kilgour, who set up the business in 2004, said the company is marking its 20th anniversary with new plans for further expansion. This will involve boosting its current portfolio of care homes from 17 to 30 by 2029, which is expected to more than double group turnover from £46 million to in excess of £100m.

Renaissance is currently on the cusp of closing a deal to acquire its 18th care home, Mr Kilgour added, and also has plans to open two specialist care units for patients with serious head injuries and Huntington's Disease.

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“For two decades, we have built up an impressive track record of improving the quality standards of the homes we bring into our portfolio," he said. "The skills and experience of our amazing and hard-working staff have underpinned this successful strategy and we are hugely excited about this next, major expansion phase."

The strategy is underpinned by Mr Kilgour's belief that the sector is ready for a new type of "regional consolidation" following the upheaval of the Covid pandemic. 

According to figures from the latest national census, the total number of residential care homes in Scotland fell by 19% from 1,282 in March 2013 to 1,037 in March 2023.

The fastest rate of closures was among homes specialising in care for adults with learning disabilities and mental health problems, down by 37% and 27% respectively. The number of care homes for the elderly - who account for more than 90% of all care home residents - declined by 13% during the decade, from 911 to 792.

“When we started out, the UK’s ten largest care home operators ran 27% of all care home beds but that figure has now reduced to around 18% as several large, UK-wide operators such as Southern Cross [with 854 care homes] have gone into administration and been broken up," Mr Kilgour said. "I firmly believe that the positive future for elderly care in the UK lies in strong but smaller regional care home operators.

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“Care homes continue to struggle in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing cost-of-living and energy crisis. However, acquisition strategies like ours can provide an attractive and meaningful lifeline for many smaller operators as strong regional groups of between 30 to 60 care homes can achieve better economies of scale whilst maintaining a personal care approach for both residents and staff which larger operators simply can’t deliver.

“I firmly believe the sector is ready for a new type of regional consolidation and our expansion plans will therefore focus on acquiring homes to join the Renaissance Care family, providing more quality, individual care to hundreds more residents across Scotland.”

Starting with just two care homes with 90 employees and a turnover of £2m, Renaissance Care now employs 1,300 people caring for 800 residents across its 17 care homes throughout Scotland.