Turner Village, Colchester
Background
The Turner Village hospital in Colchester, Essex opened in 1935 and provided mental health services until its closure in the mid 1990s.
The site is now owned by English Partnerships and forms part of the agency’s Hospital Sites Programme – an initiative to bring almost one hundred redundant hospital sites back into productive use.
Turner Village is situated in northwest Colchester, less than 1.5 miles north of the town centre and close to the main-line railway station. Highwoods Country Park and Colchester General Hospital are also nearby.
The area will eventually benefit from the provision of a major extension of the existing Northern Relief Road, which will link directly to the A12 dual carriageway, providing easy access to the trunk road network and the town centre.
Totalling around 9.7 ha, the site includes a number of buildings which are now in a state of disrepair. None of the buildings is due to be retained.
Current status
English Partnerships has selected Galliford Try Partnerships Ltd as the preferred developer to transform the site into a vibrant new community.
The local planning authority, Colchester Borough Council, has granted planning consent for residential development on Turner Village.
Up to 420 homes are set to be created, and part of the site has been earmarked for a new 330-place primary school as part of a Section 106 agreement, to which the chosen developer will be required to contribute.
25 per cent of the homes to be built on the site will be affordable, either for sale under a shared equity scheme or for rent.
In addition, all new homes on the site will have to meet English Partnerships’ design and quality standards, including EcoHomes “Very Good”, Secured by Design and Lifetime Homes.
Planning permission for Phase 1 (199 homes) was granted in November 2007 and work in due to start on site early in 2008.