Work has begun on the new Shrewsbury Mental Health Village.
Capita Symonds is providing planning and landscape architecture services to South Staffordshire & Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust on the scheme which involves the development of a new £46m mental health facility that will replace services currently provided within the Grade II listed Shelton Hospital.
The project will include 97 beds (including 23 low secure beds), with living areas and private gardens, alongside therapy facilities and associated support services, all set within landscaped grounds. The main entrance building immediately off Somerby Drive will provide cafe, bank, pharmacy, worship and administrative facilities for the village. The scheme is a major milestone for the Trust and forms an important element of plans to modernise mental health services in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.
Capita Symonds (formerly Capita Lovejoy) was first appointed by the South Staffordshire & Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in May 2008 to provide planning advice on the prospects for providing modernised mental health inpatient services via the conversion of the Grade II listed building and grounds at Shelton Hospital, or via its disposal and the development of a new, state of the art mental health care hospital on adjacent land.
A development framework for the existing hospital and wider area was prepared, identifying key site opportunities and constraints, and assessed for viability and deliverability. As part of this exercise Capita Symonds provided planning strategy advice that sought to maximise the potential financial receipt from any disposal of the estate and prepared a detailed conservation plan for the listed building and grounds to inform the potential for disposal / redevelopment.
Following selection of a preferred development option, a strategic masterplan for the site was developed which formed the basis of extensive stakeholder and public consultation. An outline planning application for the development of the new hospital was prepared and submitted by Capita Symonds and planning permission granted in August 2010.
