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UK: Architect Woods Bagot has submitted plans for a 25-storey scheme in Wembley, north-west London, which combines a care home with coliving units.
The application, lodged with Brent Council in April, includes designs for an interconnected tower which ranges from eight to 25 storeys, housing 90 care home beds on floors 1 to 7, with the remainder of the building containing 329 coliving studios.
Drawn up for developer Splendid Hospitality Group, the project is earmarked for the site of a car park in Wembley Hill Road, next to a Richard Seifert-designed Holiday Inn built in 1972.
The site is located to the west of Wembley Stadium, where it is already surrounded by a number of tall buildings, including the nearby Holiday Inn, Premier Inn and Ibis hotels.
The care home bedrooms would be arranged around the perimeter of the building “to ensure natural light and privacy”, according to the developer. A total of ten rooms would be located on the first level, with a further 16 on the remaining floors.
A dining room and quiet lounge with balconies would be located next to the bedrooms on the first seven floors, with further amenity space found on the eighth floor – including indoor and outdoor dining, a private dining area, a lounge for socialising, and a hair and beauty salon.
A needs assessment submitted with the application suggests that at present there is an undersupply of around 563 care beds in the area, with demand forecast to increase by approximately 696 places by 2034.
The 329 coliving rooms, spread over 17 floors, would all be single-occupancy. The development would include a laundry room, library, social lounges, communal kitchen and dining areas, as well as two roof terraces.
Woods Bagot principal Simon Saint said the scheme, designed in collaboration with specialist care home architect Carless+Adams, would “create a place capable of supporting modern life in Wembley”.
He added that it would provide both coliving housing “for those seeking compact, professionally managed and fully serviced homes’ as well as delivering care “accommodation that supports ageing in place and greater independence”.
But the application has already attracted 104 objections on Brent’s planning portal, without any comments in support as of the time of writing.
A Splendid Hospitality Group statement said: “This investment reflects our commitment to evolving our sites to deliver innovative solutions that serve the local community in a meaningful way. This proposal aims to bring new life to an underused brownfield site by creating high-quality homes that can support people at different stages of life, addressing the recognised lack of local supply of both general housing and elderly care accommodation while enabling residents to remain in their community as their needs change over time.”
Highlights:
- Architect Woods Bagot has submitted plans for a 25-storey scheme in Wembley, north-west London, which combines a care home with coliving units
- The application, lodged with Brent Council in April, includes designs for an interconnected tower which ranges from eight to 25 storeys, housing 90 care home beds on floors 1 to 7, with the remainder of the building containing 329 coliving studios
- The care home bedrooms would be arranged around the perimeter of the building “to ensure natural light and privacy”
- The development would include a laundry room, library, social lounges, communal kitchen and dining areas, as well as two roof terraces
