<p>US group Sunrise Senior Living is set to expand its UK retirement housing plans after agreeing a joint venture with another North American firm, Pramerica, to develop retirement homes here. Real estate group Pramerica and Sunrise, which operates out of Beaconsfield in the UK, are both listed on the US stock exchange and want to develop 18 assisted living centres in the UK but this could extend to more traditional retirement schemes in the future. Laura Duhot, senior vice president and head of capital international markets at Sunrise UK, explained: “We have a very different model to the likes of McCarthy &amp; Stone; people have one room not an apartment as such. The typical resident is about 85 and has come to a point where they need home care five or six times a year, which is no longer economical.” </p> <p>Pramerica will take an 80% stake in the JV in return for providing up to £500 million of investment in five tranches for assisted living schemes for Sunrise, which will hold the remaining 20% but also wants to build more schemes like a trial in Sidcup, Kent, which offers more competition to traditional retirement homebuilders such as M&amp;S. “In …