The WS Planning & Architecture team were approached to help with the development of a community clinic specialising in Hydrotherapy & Physiotherapy for children and adults with health conditions or impairments.
Their client had acquired a locally listed public house that had closed for business with the intention of retrofitting the building into a specialised clinic and extending the premises to provide a state of the art hydrotherapy pool. The applicants soon realised that they were not ready to manage the process by themselves due to the complexity, scale and scope of the project.
Prior to attending their first pre-application meeting, the Local Planning Authority advised the proprietors to appoint a reputable local Planning practice. We were recommended to provide them with their planning and architectural assistance.
In line with best practice, we stepped in and assisted in preparing the Planning Drawings and subsequent follow up pre-application submission. We then organised and carried out two community engagement exercises with local residents and Councillors which involved the whole Team to help shape the project and provide assurance and demonstrate the considerable benefit of the proposal to the local community.
Conditional approval was granted at local level and the project got underway in 2020 with our Preferred Partners assisting with the necessary reports to address the Planning Conditions and Building Regulations submission.
Since opening to the public the Lymden Hydrotherapy and Physiotherapy Clinic offers a purpose-built hydrotherapy pool, full accessible changing rooms, ceiling track hoist for the transition from changing room to pool, a gym and treatments rooms, rehab and therapy rooms. It was tremendously rewarding to see the positive benefits to the local community as a result of the permission as well as providing the applicants with the much needed advice from an early stage in the project when so much depended on how to address the site constraints and relevant planning policy that did not actively encourage the reuse of Public Houses.
Despite the challenges and the initial concerns from the local residents, the planning team were able to reassure them of the viability of the clinic and help their client reach their objectives. The WS Planning Team were instrumental in obtaining approval for a fantastic project that not only serves the local community but parents and adults with specific clinical requirements from a wide catchment area.