Decision on whether to turn derelict Barnes Hospital into flats expected next week
By James Smith 15th May 2024
Councillors will next week decide whether to turn half the derelict Barnes Hospital into new homes, nearly three years after the application was first submitted.
Plans to redevelop part of the site into a special needs school and health centre have already been given the green light by Richmond Council, although work is yet to get underway.
Next Wednesday (May 22) the local authority's planning committee will make a decision on Star Land Realty UK Ltd's application to flatten the site to make way for 104 flats, and to convert two buildings into three more residential units.
If approved, the scheme will see all the buildings, except the Recreation Hall and Entrance Lodge, demolished and replaced with three residential apartment blocks.
The project would provide 24 affordable homes.
A council report has recommended the application be approved.
"The height, scale and design of the buildings are generally acceptable," it said.
"Concern is expressed regarding some of the separation distances between the blocks, however it is noted that the layout has sought to make the most efficient use of the site.
"Building design takes cues from local character, whilst also developing a cohesive approach within the development itself and overall is considered to be of good design quality."
The development would be next to Mortlake Cemetery but it is said to not have a major impact on the area.
In December 2022 South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust announced it will be forking out £11 million on a state-of-the-art mental health facility at the site off South Worple Way.
The trust is keeping part of the site for outpatient services but sold the other half to the developer in March 2019 for housing.
Outline plans, to bulldoze some buildings and put up a new health centre, school and housing on the site, were approved in September 2020 - after the hospital was declared surplus to the trust's requirements.
Barnes Isolation Hospital first opened in 1889 to care for patients with infectious diseases.
It was later renamed and mainly provided mental health services by the early 1990s. It hasn't provided inpatient services since 2013.
See the full council report here.
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