IRT Employee Queensland Finalist for Retirement Living Award

IRT Retirement Village Area Manager, Colleen Taylor of the Sunshine Coast is in the running to be named Queensland’s best retirement village manager.

Colleen is a state finalist for Village Manager of the Year in the Property Council of Australia’s Retirement Living Awards. If she wins the Queensland title in September she’ll go on to compete against other state and territory winners for the national award.

As a Retirement Village Area Manager, Colleen is responsible for the day-to-day running of IRT The Palms, a 20-acre site on the Sunshine Coast with 189 villas housing 293 residents. She also oversees three other IRT retirement villages spanning 100km across South East Queensland.

IRT Group Executive General Manager – Retirement Villages, Stig Andersen said IRT is extremely proud of Colleen’s achievement and the work she is doing to enrich the lives of our residents.

“This industry recognition is testament to Colleen’s passion and dedication to creating a happy and harmonious village for our residents,” Mr Andersen said.

“Colleen always goes above and beyond working collaboratively with residents to make IRT The Palms a great place to live.

“She is strongly focused on understanding and meeting resident needs and approaches every day and every decision with their wellbeing and comfort front of mind.

“Colleen has made some outstanding contributions to the village since joining us in 2016 and has achieved consistent high resident satisfaction levels.”

Some of Colleen’s key contributions include a resident inclusive budget process, giving residents the opportunity to participate and provide their input. Another is her initiation of biannual forums where residents learn from experts in finance, government programs, health and law

She has also introduced a number of sustainable living measures to save on electricity costs with the installation of LED lighting and solar street lights.

That’s all in addition to working closely with the social committee to ensure residents have plenty of opportunities to engage in community activities that appeal to them. The community hall is always alive with activities including yoga, happy hour, bingo and mah-jong.

The National Village Manager of the Year will be announced at the annual Retirement Living Awards Gala Dinner on 21 November 2019 on the Gold Coast. The prestigious awards recognise the contribution and achievements across all areas of the retirement living sector by the people and companies helping ensure senior Australians have an enjoyable retirement.

For more information about IRT The Palms, phone 134 478 or visit www.irt.org.au

Media enquiries: Hannah Ellson 0429 361 627

General enquiries: 134 478