Location:
London Borough of Enfield
Issue:
Securing permission for a new elderly care home, more than twice the size of the existing home, to address viability issues that had caused existing care home to close.
How we helped and added value:
Our client initially approached us to undertake a due diligence planning review on this site in North London. The existing 37 bedroom care home had closed and a new, larger, care home was required in order to make the site operationally viable. We quickly identified that design was likely to be the main issue to address to ensure a new, larger, home could be comfortably accommodated on the site.
We worked closely with the Council during the application stage to address design comments - this included providing justification for certain design features that were specific to care homes, such as clear balcony screens to provide residents with outdoor space. It also included liaising with other consultants to demonstrate how a high quality landscape scheme would be provided, to mitigate the increase in built form while providing a comfortable living environment for residents and an improvement for neighbours adjacent to the site.
We also minimised the number of pre-commencement conditions to allow our client to start development as soon as possible.
