The full vision for the multi-million pound conversion and refurbishment of Grade II listed Warley Hospital has finally emerged after the company behind the project submitted a formal application to Brentwood Council.
City and Country Residential Ltd is proposing to convert the core buildings of the vacant mental hospital into 109 prestigious flats plus a handful of offices. Meanwhile, new buildings on the four hectare site will accommodate another 60 flats.
If the proposals to "maximise the potential of the site" get the go ahead from councillors the hospital's nursing block, art therapy unit, offices, male annexe, chapel, water tower and workshops will be transformed into designer homes within easy walking distance of Brentwood station.
The submission by City and Country includes a huge amount of background material including a 25 page Planning Statement, an in-depth Historic Building Appraisal and Condition Survey and a Landscape Report. It also includes surveys on transport, the site's ecology and potential bat habitation.
Simon Marner, property director for City and Country Group, said: "We have submitted two seperate applications for our proposed plans at Warley Hospital - the first for the conversion only, the second for the conversion and the new build. This follows four months of detailed negotiations with the local planning department."
The original hospital buildings date back to the 1850s, but the site has lain empty for nearly five years while the Clements Park estate has grown up around it.
City and Country wants to retain the core buildings, but plans to demolish the later additions which have been constructed at various times. The 109 flats within the core buildings will include 25, one-bedroomed flats, 48, two-bedroomed flats, 34, three-bedroomed flats and two, four-bedroomed flats.
The architects propose placing most of the parking underground to make sure land within the site is used as efficiently as possible.
The project will entail the removal of around 20 trees - although an extensive tree planting programme is planned.
The plans submitted to the council show how the developer wants to create a total of eight courtyards within the site alongside a grand avenue down to the parkland at the western end of the site.
Published Tuesday January 6, 2004
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