Horseferry Road scheme to include hydrotherapy pool, library, art studio and quiet rooms
Plans by Squire & Partners for a luxury care facility in Westminster are set to be given the go ahead next week.
The scheme for care home operator Medici Lifecare includes two options, with one being a 126-unit care home featuring a library, hydrotherapy pool, art studio, restaurant, communal lounges, quiet rooms and therapy rooms.
The other option in the planning application is a clinical facility housing, which also includes a hydrotherapy pool along with 2,800 sq m of post-operative care space, 6,900 sq m of clinical space and 360 sq m of retail.
The 52 Horseferry Road site is surrounded by government offices including the Home Office, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Department for Transport, MI5, along with the headquarters of fashion brand Burberry.
Both options for the scheme will require the demolition of Dean Bradley House, a 1930s building on the Horseferry Road site, and its replacement with a 10-storey building and three-storey infill extension.
Squire & Partners said the new plans will replace the “inflexible and unsustainable” existing building with a “low carbon development utilising renewable technologies in order to minimise its carbon footprint”.
Although unlisted, Dean Bradley House was identified as a building of merit in the local conservation area.
Squire & Partners argued the building does not “comparatively make as positive a contribution” to the conservation area as other nearby buildings and “sits uncomfortably” next to its grade II-listed Edwardian neighbour, Belgravia House.
The practice also criticised the existing block’s “ruthlessly regular” grid of windows and said the facade’s grey-brown brick was “dull and out of keeping” with the red brick facades seen on many other buildings in the area.
Recommending the plans for approval, Westminster’s planning officer said the loss of Dean Bradley House and its new build replacement would cause “less than substantial harm” to the character and appearance of the local Smith Square Conservation Area.
The officer’s report also listed the scheme’s “substantial” public benefits, including the provision of care home units, specialist dementia care units and a condition allowing access by NHS patients to the hydrotherapy pool.
The proposals are a rejig of an earlier consent for the site granted in 2017 for developer Mayfair Charities Limited which were not implemented, but would have seen a new office, retail and residential block built on the site.
The 2017 plans received 21 objections, with many focusing on the loss of much of the site’s retail space.
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