Plans have been announced for a private care home on the site of former BBC studios in Birmingham.
Healthcare company Bupa has released plans for a 62-bedroom home, including a cinema, hair salon and therapy rooms, on a plot of land fronting Bristol Road on the 27-acre Pebble Mill site in Edgbaston.
Details were presented for consultation at the Midland Arts Centre on February 25 with the aim of gathering views in advance of a planning application to be made to Birmingham City Council.
Construction work on a dental hospital and school of dentistry will start this year, following planning approval in December 2012. Planning permission for a 161,400 sq ft private hospital was granted in October 2009 on a plot fronting Pebble Mill Road and a long lease was granted by Calthorpe Estates to Circle Health towards the end of 2011.
Calthorpe said it hopes formal proposals will come forward for the private hospital over the coming year.
At the centre of the site a vacant plot offers the potential to construct up to 40,000sq ft, with another plot on the site of the ex BBC Social Club being considered for wider leisure use.
Ralph Minott, director of development for Calthorpe Estates, said: “When we secured overall planning consent for wider medical, science and health-related facilities in 2009, our intention was to attract world-class organisations that would create a centre of excellence the region could be proud of.
“The whole development is moving forward well and Bupa Care continues the high quality of health partners we are talking to.
“We set out to create high quality landscaping, within the already mature setting, that has two established brooks running through the site, Chad Brook and Bourne Brook.
“A major feature will be the public accessible promenade which will run through the developed park, leading to a ‘village green’ in the centre of Pebble Mill. The continued progress with Pebble Mill, as part of the ever strengthening medical quarter, we see as progress towards our ambitions for a prestigious landmark site and gaining global recognition for the historic name of Pebble Mill.”
Edgbaston has 64 per cent of the city’s healthcare economy and a life sciences summit at Edgbaston Stadium on March 18 will see the official launch of the Edgbaston Medical Quarter.
