Barratt wins 800-home hospital conversion permission

Housebuilder Barratt and heritage developer City & Country has won outline permission to build 800 homes on the grounds of the Grade II listed Springfield University Hospital in South West London.

The firms said City & Country will transform the hospital and its array of redundant listed buildings into new apartments, while Barratt London will build new homes in the hospital’s grounds.

Historic conversions will include turning the main Grade II listed hospital building and the hospital’s late 19th century Chapel and Ballroom into flats, as well as Glenburnie Lodge; a two-storey gatehouse adjoining the Glenburnie Road entrance. City and Country said it expected to submit a detailed planning application for this work next month, with the first homes available in 2021.

The homes are part of a wider permission which will also see the creation of mental health inpatient facilities, a 32-acre public park, shops and a café and £5m for transport infrastructure.

The permission follows a masterplan drawn up by South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, which owns the site, and forms part of its wider estate modernisation programme.

Springfield and Tolworth Estate Partnership - a 50/50 partnership with Sir Robert McAlpine Capital Ventures Ltd and Kajima Partnerships - is the principal developer of the wider estate.

Mark Fowler, managing director of City & Country, said he was “very excited” to be playing a role in the redevelopment of Springfield Hospital. He said: “The hospital’s listed buildings are of significant historical and architectural value and are precisely the type of buildings we love to restore and convert into high quality new homes.”