Inspired Villages grows senior team with two new hires

Award-winning retirement villages operator Inspired Villages has grown its senior team with the hire of Louise Read as Legal Counsel and Tajinder Samra as Head of Tax. The appointments, which are new roles for the company, come at a key time for the business. Last year, Legal & General and NatWest Group Pension Fund committed to investing £500m into Inspired Villages to support its growth to 34 retirement communities.

Louise brings 16 years of real estate legal experience to Inspired Villages, joining the company from law firm Browne Jacobson. She was also a part-time law lecturer at Nottingham Trent and Nottingham Law School. Louise will support Inspired Villages with a wide spectrum of legal advice as the company seeks to expand its portfolio to support over 8,000 residents.  

Taj, a chartered accountant and chartered tax advisor, joins Inspired Villages from High Speed Two, where Taj led on tax matters for the largest infrastructure project in Europe. Taj has over 10 years of corporate tax experience and has also held roles at KPMG and PwC. Taj will take leadership of the tax function within the business, advising on corporate tax matters, managing VAT affairs and overseeing other tax-related projects within the business.

Established in 2017, Inspired Villages creates vibrant communities with age-appropriate accommodation and state-of-the-art leisure facilities for older people, allowing them to live healthy, independent lives for longer. Currently, Inspired Villages has six operational villages, four in construction (including the UK’s first two net zero carbon regulated energy retirement villages), and a further 19 secured sites, putting it on track to currently deliver around 5,000 homes. The communities Inspired Villages creates, play a vital role in addressing the significant shortage of suitable homes for older people in the UK. There are now more than 12m over 65s in the UK with this figure expected to increase by 41% to nearly 18m by 2040[1]; however, there are currently only circa 80,000 later living homes in this country and between now and 2025 only around 8,000 new units are forecast to be delivered each year[2]. 

Commenting on her new role as Legal Counsel, Louise, said:

“I’m delighted to be joining Inspired Villages at this exciting time in its evolution as a company. I wanted to take my career in a new direction and use the skills I gained in private practice to focus on work with a more obvious social impact. Inspired Villages appealed to me because of the way the company supports older people in society; I was particularly impressed by the way they kept residents safe but not isolated during lockdown.”

Commenting on her new role as Head of Tax, Taj, said:

“In my career I’ve always particularly enjoyed working at companies that work to improve infrastructure, so I’m pleased to be joining Inspired Villages, which delivers vital age-appropriate accommodation for older people. I look forward to bringing my many years of experience as a corporate tax specialist to this role and supporting the company in its ambitions.”

Jamie Bunce, CEO of Inspired Villages, added:

“At Inspired Villages we are driving towards becoming the world’s leading retirement villages operator and we know that we can only succeed in that aim by nurturing the best talent. I’m therefore thrilled to welcome Louise and Taj to the company. They both bring a wealth of experience to their respective roles that will enhance the way we work and help us deliver retirement communities that allow older people to live the best years of their lives with us.”