Sarisbury Green Care Home
Location
Sarisbury Green, Fareham, England
Client
Care UK
Area
Brownfield, Urban
Funding
Private equity/debt
Developing much-needed care close to a conservation area.
Building a 75-bed care home bordering an ancient woodland was not without its challenges.
But after taking the time to understand the views of local residents and council planners, Prime delivered an evolutionary project that increases modern, fit-for-purpose care and dementia beds within the Fareham area.
The site was a stone’s throw from Holly Hill Woodland Park, a conservation area first documented during the reign of Edward I. A local area and context appraisal identified a number of constraints on the surroundings, including trees, heritage, ecology, access and visual impact.
With this is mind, Prime ensured a landscape scheme was submitted in support of the application to show how the plans would integrate existing and proposed landscaping, both within and on the boundaries of the site, to enhance biodiversity. The site included a number of mature trees with preservation orders and so the building’s design needed to retain these.
Our plans were subject to consultation with Fareham Borough Council and the local community, which led to an evolution of the design to respond to comments made by these stakeholders. We ensured there was a 15-metre buffer zone to the northern boundary and reduced the building’s visual mass, using a softer, less urban material palette and building form, whilst providing additional manoeuvring space for vehicles within the site curtilage.
The public consultation was extremely valuable – many welcomed the opportunity to influence the look of the building and a clear preference was demonstrated over the materials used for elevations which formed the basis of the planning application.
The end result was overwhelmingly positive: full time employment for 70-80 staff; a building that helped the local authority widen opportunities for home ownership and meet the growing requirement for elderly care within the Fareham Borough Council patch, and a care home that provides modern facilities to help meet the needs of elderly and specialist dementia care in the Fareham area.