For over 12 years, Retirement Communities Australia (RCA) has been at the forefront of building and managing high quality retirement villages in Victoria which provide residents with comfort, tranquillity and easy access to appropriate services in their twilight years.

With more than 1100 units built and under management for over 1600 residents at three established sites – Beleura Village in Mornington, Martha Cove at Safety Beach and Point Cook Village – RCA is currently building its fourth facility at Cardinia Waters, Pakenham. Having first seen the illume Shaftless Skylights at a Bowens hardware product showcase event, RCA invited the manufacturer, Australian company Kimberley Products, to demonstrate the product at its Mornington retirement facility that was then under construction. As Anthony Holdsworth, RCA’s Construction Manager/Director explained he was immediately won over and convinced that the illume systems was a better alternative to the traditional skylights it was fitting at the time. As a result, every new RCA unit now being built is fitted with at least two of the solar-powered lighting systems that are built by Kimberley and supplied by Bowens. “As soon as I saw the illume products being demonstrated, I immediately identified that there were applications in our buildings both as a standard installation on new construction and also as something that could easily be retrofitted to existing units,” Holdsworth said. “We have always fitted skylights to the units we build but the illume system is a much better option to the shafted ones we used to use. “They are easy to install, they look terrific and there are no penetrations in the roof which is significant advantage for weather proofing and ongoing maintenance costs.”

Holdsworth said that RCA village facilities are made up of multiple individual, single storey units, each of which has two internal bathrooms which are fitted with a 300 x 300 mm illume solar skylights. “We are so happy with the product that we now also offer residents the opportunity to fit more as an optional extra which is often taken up in hallways, kitchens and garages,” Holdsworth said. “In addition, we have had quite a few requests from tenants in some of the earlier units to have their traditional shafted skylights replaced by illume solar skylights. “They represent a great way to get light into the bathrooms during daylight hours and create significant cost efficiencies for tenants in terms of reducing reliance on utility power and for us as managers from the reduced maintenance. “We have now fitted nearly 400 illume skylights across the four sites without having any dramas. There has been no issues with installation, maintenance or reliability. Not a single one has failed.” There is no need for a specialist or electrician to fit this lighting system. Each illume skylight is installed by one of our carpenters and it only takes about 10 minutes from start to finish according to Holdsworth. This involves cutting a hole in the ceiling the size of the light panel, fitting the solar panel to the roof and then connecting the two via a cable. It is so easy that anybody can do it. Holdsworth said that one of the key success factors for managing facilities such as a retirement village is to keep your maintenance costs down as much as possible which is something that is a distinct advantage that these solar skylights have over traditional shaft and dome systems. “There are improvements for us as builders and managers of these retirement facilities in ease of installation, aesthetics, performance and maintenance,” Holdsworth said. “In our experience, standard skylights are prone to blockages and/or leaks and you have none of that with the illume product. “We know there is an ongoing maintenance issue that will emerge as the traditional skylights we have installed get older and in addition to that they form an important part of our story as a builder of clean, green and sustainable housing to help people enjoy their retirement.”