Esprit De Vie is a premium Gold Coast ‘later living’ development with a vision to create more than just another place for over-65s to live. Instead, their ‘new approach’ sought to create a vibrant community with a focus on holistic wellness and fostering socialisation to combat loneliness.
Meaning ‘Spirit of Life’, Esprit De Vie at The Lakes, Mermaid Waters, features 114 apartments across seven storeys with basement-level and ground-level carparking. The development also includes 16 aged care units. Thoughtfully designed to enrich daily life, the Esprit de Vie lifestyle includes a heated magnesium swimming pool and spa, a fully equipped gym with regular ‘sweat’ classes, and a rooftop communal dining area complete with an outdoor BBQ and entertainment space. An all-day dining café and restaurant, complete with a licensed bar, offers residents the perfect spot to enjoy everything from morning coffee to evening cocktails; whether you’re catching up with friends or simply soaking up the atmosphere. These shared amenities naturally bring residents together, encouraging connection, daily group activities, and a stronger sense of belonging, while also supporting a more active, vibrant lifestyle.
Providing cost certainty and financial control
WT provided cost management and quantity surveying services to our client Esprit De Vie throughout the 22-month construction program, ensuring cost certainty and financial control from inception to completion. We conducted regular cost reporting and progress claims assessments, enabling our client to maintain financial transparency and mitigate budget overruns.
Managing the construction program while ensuring cost control was critical for successful delivery of the project. To maintain financial stability and project timelines, we provided careful oversight of preliminaries and accurate forecasting of completion dates.
We ensured that monthly drawdown reports were promptly completed and submitted to the financier, so that all the parties involved in the construction process could be paid at the right time. Considering the volatility in the Australian construction market, supporting contractor and subcontractor cash flow was a crucial mitigation against the risk of financial distress or potential insolvency.
With our specialist input, clear communication and productive collaboration with the head contractor, superintendent, developer and financier, Stage 1 of the project has been a success, leading to our engagement for Stage 2.
A connected, supportive community for long-term wellbeing
Stage 1 achieved practical completion in late 2024, with many residents fully settled in and now enjoying the plethora of premium amenities the development offers.
We are thrilled to see the developer’s vision come to life – setting a new standard for ‘later living’, where residents don’t find just a place to live but a thriving community where they can share experiences, create new connections and memories, and maintain an enriched quality of life.
It’s an important intervention in a number of social crises in Australia, including the housing shortage, an increasing loneliness epidemic, and the need to encourage the continuing mental and physical health of our population’s growing proportion of older adults.
Esprit De Vie provides a leading, replicable example of how thoughtful housing developments can help shape happier, healthier futures.
