A hospitality company has tabled plans to build a new care home and co-living apartments in a 25-storey block in Wembley. The developer claims it will help meet a growing demand for care units in the borough, alongside providing more single-occupancy rental homes.
Splendid Hospitality Group (SHG) – a company that specialises in building and operating hotels, care homes, and restaurants – has submitted plans for the redevelopment of an ‘underutilised car park’ on Wembley Hill Road. The site is currently used as the surface car park for the nearby Holiday Inn.
If approved by Brent Council’s planning committee, the project is set to deliver a 90-person care home over the first eight floors, with the remaining 17 floors to be occupied by the 329-bed co-living development.
Documents filed alongside the application show plans for the dual purpose development to sit within an interconnected building, with blocks ranging in height from eight to maximum 25-storeys.The site is located to the west of Wembley Stadium, where it is already surrounded by a number of tall buildings, including the nearby Holiday Inn, Premier Inn and Ibis hotels.
The care home bedrooms would be arranged around the perimeter of the building “to ensure natural light and privacy”, according to the developer. A total of ten rooms would be located on the first level, with a further 16 on the remaining floors.
A dining room and quiet lounge with balconies would be located next to the bedrooms on the first seven floors, with further amenity space found on the eighth floor – including indoor and outdoor dining, a private dining area, a lounge for socialising, and a hair and beauty salon.
The developer claims there is currently “a strong demand” for care beds in Brent that is set to “continue over the next decade”. A needs assessment submitted with the application suggests that at present there is an undersupply of around 563 care beds, with demand forecast to increase by approximately 696 places by 2034.
The 329 co-living rooms, spread over 17 floors, would all be single-occupancy. The development would include a laundry room, library, social lounges, communal kitchen and dining areas, as well as two roof terraces.
The developer claims the rental accommodation would be “more affordable and accessible” than private sales or rental studios, and “better quality” than rooms in existing buy-to-let house shares.
It adds: “The homes will be affordable to local workers who are finding it increasingly difficult to afford to live in a good quality home close to work. This will in turn support local businesses and other employers who are struggling to attract and retain staff who do not wish to share and/or require more affordable and flexible housing options.”
The scheme will be reviewed by Brent Council’s planning committee in due course, which will then determine whether or not it will be given the go ahead.
Grant Williams is a journalist and Local Democracy Reporter (LDR) for Reach PLC, reporting on local government, politics and community issues across London. As part of the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he has contributed to Harrow Online, covering council decisions, housing developments, transport, planning matters and stories affecting local communities across Harrow and Brent.
