Housebuilder buys land once former Harold Wood Hospital

A parcel of land once home to a major hospital has been bought with a plan of building 96 new homes.

Bellway Thames Gateway has bought a 2.83-acre site off Copse Avenue, Romford, from NHS Property Services.

The site is part of the former Harold Wood Hospital, located in Gubbins Lane and managed by Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT), which closed at the end of 2006.

Bellway aims to deliver a mix of one and two-bedroom apartments and three and four-bedroom houses for private sale, alongside flats available for local people through low-cost rent or shared ownership.

The apartments will be in two five-storey blocks, with 98 car parking spaces at the site.

As part of the sale, Bellway has agreed to provide 23 car parking spaces for the neighbouring NHS Harold Wood Polyclinic.

CGI image of an alternative perspective of the site entrance, being built on the former site of Harold Wood Hospital (Image: Bellway)

Matt Waterworth, senior transaction manager for NHS Property Services, 
said: “We are pleased to be completing on the sale of this site, which will enable us to reinvest funds back into the NHS helping to tackle the biggest estates challenges, unlocking greater value and ensuring patients can get the care they need in the right place and space for them.”

The former hospital began as a convalescent home for children when it was opened by West Ham County Borough Council in 1909.

It became an emergency hospital during the Second World War and was retained as a hospital thereafter. 

Following its closure in 2006 services were relocated to Queen’s Hospital in Romford and the King George Hospital in Ilford.

Now in its place is the Kings Park residential neighbourhood, where plans for 810 homes were given outline planning permission in 2010.

The site acquired by Bellway, formerly home to the hospital’s Long Term Condition Centre and now empty, will be one of the final parcels of the land to be redeveloped.

Will Weston-Smith, head of land for Bellway Thames Gateway, said: 
“The acquisition of this parcel of land will enable us to deliver a collection of high-quality new homes in a highly sustainable location just half a mile from local amenities including shops, restaurants and convenience stores.

“Our proposals will deliver much-needed new homes for the private market as well as a significant proportion of affordable housing, which will be available to local people who cannot afford to buy their own home.

“We are now finalising our detailed plans for this project and are working with the local authority prior to submitting an application for the new homes later this year.”