Dunham Care Progresses £550 Million Care Home Development Pipeline

This article first appeared in Care Home Magazine on 14 October 2026. Read the original article here.

Dunham Care, the McGoff Group’s luxury care home platform, is progressing an ambitious growth pipeline representing approximately £550 million of development opportunities across England, bringing together decades of experience in care, property development and construction to create a new generation of purpose built care environments.

At the heart of Dunham Care’s approach is a simple belief: great care is about much more than the building itself. It is about creating places where people feel at home, where families feel welcome and reassured, and where care teams have the environment, facilities and support they need to provide the very best care.

With an ageing UK population and increasing demand for high quality residential, nursing and specialist dementia care, Dunham Care is combining its founders’ extensive experience of the care sector with the wider McGoff Group’s integrated development and construction capability to deliver homes designed around the people who live and work in them.

Dunham Care is not the team’s first experience of building and operating successful care communities.

CEO Chris McGoff previously founded and led New Care, building, operating and successfully exiting a portfolio of 17 care homes across Cheshire, Merseyside, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire.

The portfolio represented a combined gross development value of £274 million, comprising more than 1,000 beds and employing hundreds of care professionals, before the business was sold to Lovett Care in 2024.

That experience provides a strong foundation for Dunham Care, but the ambition now goes beyond simply delivering more care homes.

“The demand for high quality care homes across the UK continues to grow, but for us this is about more than simply meeting that demand,” said Chris McGoff, CEO of Dunham Care.

“People deserve to live in places that feel welcoming, comfortable and homely, with the very best care around them. Families want to know that their loved ones are safe, well cared for and happy, while our care teams need environments that allow them to do their jobs exceptionally well.”

“We have the opportunity through Dunham Care to take everything we have learned over many years and build on it, creating homes that combine outstanding care with great hospitality, thoughtful design and a genuine sense of community.”

Alongside Chris McGoff, Dunham Care’s leadership team brings together significant experience across finance, healthcare, care operations and development.

Dave Foran, CFO, previously helped raise more than £200 million of capital and supported New Care through its successful sales process.

Emma James, Business Operations Director, was closely involved in the opening and commissioning of New Care’s first homes in 2010 and brings extensive experience across the development, mobilisation and operational side of the business.

Mike Wilson, COO, brings more than 25 years of multi site healthcare leadership experience as a Registered Nurse, with a deep understanding of the operational and clinical requirements of delivering high quality care.

Dunham Care’s first operational home, Herne Bay Manor in Kent, opened in March 2026 and provides an early example of the model the group is looking to develop across the UK.

The 67 bedroom home provides residential, nursing, dementia and respite care and forms part of a wider retirement community alongside 50 independent living retirement bungalows. Within its first six months, Herne Bay Manor has reached more than a third occupancy, supported by a healthy pipeline of enquiries and strong early engagement from local families.

Designed to feel more like a high quality hotel than a traditional care home, Herne Bay Manor includes generous communal spaces, landscaped gardens, hospitality led dining and a range of spaces designed to encourage residents to spend time together, welcome family and friends and continue enjoying the things that matter to them.

For Dunham Care, this is an important part of its philosophy.

Care should not mean putting life on hold. It should mean creating the right environment for people to continue living well, maintaining relationships, enjoying good food, spending time outdoors, pursuing interests and making new memories.

Behind Herne Bay Manor, Dunham Care has a substantial pipeline of secured and prospective developments spanning the North West and Southern England, with schemes phased through to 2029.

Among the confirmed developments are:

Opening soon, Bowdon Manor, Cheshire – Dunham Care’s flagship 51 bedroom home, being developed on the former Mercure Hotel site as part of a wider intergenerational development.

Morley Hall, Congleton, A 70 bedroom care home forming part of a larger multi generational development being delivered in partnership with McCarthy Stone. The wider scheme will include 53 retirement apartments and 14 family townhouses, creating a genuine community around the care home due for completion in October 2027.

Further sites across Canterbury, Coxheath, Witham, Childwall, Harlow, Nantwich, Stourport, Wilmslow, Northwich, Chelmsford, Rayleigh and Macclesfield are progressing through the pipeline into 2029.

Together, the developments represent an opportunity to create not simply a collection of care homes, but a network of communities designed around the needs of older people and their families.

Dunham Care’s ambition is supported by the McGoff Group’s fully integrated platform, bringing together site acquisition, design and planning through McGoff Group Projects, construction through McGoff Construction, care operations and long term asset management through McGoff Group Facilities Services.

The Group also brings significant funding experience through Hive Capital Advisory, having arranged more than £600 million of funding supporting the delivery of more than 80 care homes across the UK to date.

This combination of development and operational expertise allows Dunham Care to take a long term view of each home, from the initial design through to the experience of residents and families once the doors open.

“Today we are applying that experience through Dunham Care,” added Chris McGoff.

“We have learned a huge amount about what makes a great care home over many years, but we also know that the sector continues to evolve and that expectations are changing.”

“Our ambition is to create homes where people genuinely want to live and where families feel confident choosing care for someone they love. “Ultimately, this is about creating lasting value through care. That means investing in the quality of our homes, our people and the communities around them, while making sure every resident has the opportunity to live well and feel at home.”