Canberra’s population is both growing and ageing, creating a pressing need for models of care that combine clinical excellence, thoughtful design and genuine community connection. National provider Arcare — with more than 45 years’ experience and over 55 residences across the eastern seaboard — is answering that call with three purpose-built homes in the ACT: Arcare Aranda (opening July 2025), Arcare Wright (November 2025) and Arcare Gold Creek (scheduled 2027). Each residence draws on Arcare’s deep expertise in designing spaces that respect privacy while encouraging social connection and wellbeing.

Relationship-First care, built into the walls

Central to every Arcare home is the Relationship-First Approach — a staffing model that keeps the same team members with the same residents to foster trust, familiarity and emotional safety. Families are welcomed as partners, ensuring that care plans evolve with each resident’s preferences and life story. It’s an ethos that treats ageing not just as a clinical journey but as a personal one.

Spaces that feel like home — only better

Arcare residences feature large private suites with ensuites and either a balcony or landscaped courtyard, giving residents fresh-air access and a personal connection to the outdoors. Communal amenities rival boutique hotels: a cinema, private dining room for family celebrations, a hair salon, gym, café, and multiple light-filled lounges. Thoughtful interior palettes, wide corridors and abundant natural light create an atmosphere that is calm, safe and unmistakably homelike.

Gold Creek: Looking ahead

Set to open in 2027, Arcare Gold Creek will carry these design principles north, adding capacity and choice for families in Gungahlin and beyond. Early plans include generous gardens, alfresco dining zones and flexible activity rooms — ensuring the residence can adapt as community needs change.

Beyond the front gate: Sport, music and volunteering

Arcare’s influence isn’t confined to its walls. The organisation supports community sporting clubs and schools through sponsorship programs, demonstrating a commitment to wellbeing across generations.

Locally, each residence partners with volunteer groups for gardening, craft and inter-generational programs, and in the ACT, will host performances by the Canberra Symphony Orchestra — part of the CSO’s outreach that brings live music into aged-care settings to boost mood, memory and social connection.

Meeting Canberra’s moment

As the ACT plans for the demographic realities of the coming decades, Arcare’s arrival signals more than bricks-and-mortar expansion. It represents a shift toward people-centred, community-anchored aged care, where design excellence, skilled clinical support and authentic relationships work together to create places residents are proud to call home — and where families feel confident their loved ones are both safe and truly seen.

To find out more or to book a tour for Arcare Aranda, call 1300 ARCARE or visit arcare.com.au to witness first-hand how thoughtful architecture and relationship-based care can redefine ageing.