English partnerships' hospital sites programme will convert former hospital sites in to useful, habitable buildings. B&E hears from Linden Homes about how it plans to promote energy efficiency when it redevelops an Oxfordshire Hospital as part of the scheme.

Linden Homes claims it will create a blueprint for environmentally-friendly housebuilding when it redevelops the sought-after Fair Mile Hospital site in Cholsey, South Oxfordshire. The company will develop the site with regeneration agency English Partnerships (EP).

The selection panel for the development included EP and English Heritage. The panel unanimously agreed that the Linden bid met or exceeded all requirements concerning sustainable development, environmental features and community  consultation.

Plans for the project include using insulation and district heating systems to improve the energy efficiency of the existing listed hospital buildings, which Fair Mile’s developers will retain as part of the project. The new homes on the site will incorporate measures for generating renewable energy. These will include solar panels and ground source heat pumps. Linden says it hopes to reach an EcoHome rating of “Excellent” by building the homes using timber frames. They will also feature dual water systems to preserve fresh water.

Fair Mile has been closed since April 2003. It is on a 40-hectare site surrounded by open countryside, with half a mile of sought-after River Thames frontage. The original red brick buildings, built in 1870, are Grade II listed and include a small chapel. Linden will restore the buildings alongside developer Thomas Homes and will convert them into homes or community facilities. The historical parks and gardens will also be retained as public space.

“We will redevelop this remarkable site, which will result in a truly sustainable new community with a mixture of converted buildings, new homes, landscaped grounds and community facilities,” says Chris Coates, Linden Homes Chiltern managing director.

The company formerly worked on major redevelopment projects such as Queen Elizabeth Park in Guildford and The Village at Caterham Barracks, Surrey. “We are confident Fair Mile Hospital will become our next landmark development,” says Coates, “and we look forward to working with English Partnerships to create a blueprint for environmentally friendly and sustainable housebuilding.”

David Ashworth, area director for EP, says the development will take the whole community into account. “The proposal from Linden Homes meets all our design, environmental and sustainability standards and demonstrates a sensitive approach to the conservation of the listed hospital buildings,” he says. “As well as making more affordable homes available, our plans also include the provision of community and leisure facilities to create a mixed-use development of the highest quality.”

Linden Homes will deliver 40% of the homes as affordable housing alongside The Guinness Trust. Linden Homes worked with The Guinness Trust previously on its Caterham Barracks development.  A Linden spokeswoman tells B&E the company has developed its green credentials since it worked on the project at Caterham in 1998. “Back then, sustainability in terms of highly energy-efficient homes was a long way from where it is now,” she says. “There was really no such thing as solar panels or heat pumps on regular homes. In fact much of the technology had not even been developed.”

The spokeswoman says the £60m Caterham project was a groundbreaking scheme when it came to issues around sustainability. She says: “Linden was pioneering in developing one of the first ‘sustainable communities’ in the sense of using community consultation to ensure the scheme fitted into the existing wider community, using mixed tenures of residential and commercial, mixed housing types, from apartments to houses, and old and new buildings.” She says the scheme also took into account public transport and shops. “Fair Mile will be doing all of these things,” the spokeswoman says, “but also bringing in the latest technology in terms of 'eco-housebuilding’ with heat pumps, solar panels and dual water systems.”

The provision of community facilities as part of the Fair Mile scheme will be agreed with local residents at a series of community planning events, the first of which is expected to take place in autumn 2006.Construction will start in 2007.

The spokeswoman says it is not yet clear how many homes Linden will develop on the site. “They’re in the early stages at the moment,” she says. “They’re going to be holding community planning seminars at weekends. It’s going to be quite a huge development and a mixture of houses and apartments.”

The Fair Mile Hospital site, along with adjoining Celsea Place covers 2.4 ha. It forms part of the Hospital Sites Programme run by English Partnerships, to bring 96 former hospital sites back into productive use. Nationally, the programme will deliver up to 14,000 new homes.

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