A former Kingston Hospital wing will be bulldozed for 150 new homes. Regent Wing, which was part of the hospital until 2021, will be replaced with three six-storey apartment blocks.

The plans from Bywater Properties will see the empty Victorian hospital wing knocked down for 150 build-to-rent flats, cycle storage, five Blue Badge parking bays, play areas and a new public path linking Coombe Road to the site.

Kingston Council's planning committee approved the scheme on Wednesday night (July 8), after agreeing it was an improvement on previous proposals.

Conservative councillor Ian George said: "On balance, I think most residents think this is acceptable and better than the previous application."

Regent Wing was built in 1868 as an infirmary for Kingston Union Workhouse. It was later used as offices for Kingston Hospital, but it is no longer part of Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust and has been empty since 2021.

The Planning Inspectorate granted Advanced Living (Kingston) Limited's appeal to demolish the wing and build 128 new flats for older people, a wellness centre and restaurant in a block up to eight storeys tall in 2022. The plans included 43 parking spaces, but were never carried out.

Bywater later bought the site and said it could make several improvements to the approved scheme, after reviewing it.

The scheme was set to be decided in April, but the meeting was deferred to address concerns over whether providing affordable housing on the site could be considered towards the end of construction.

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Council officers said the developer had instead offered to pay the council £2.3million to fund affordable housing elsewhere at the meeting on July 8, as building affordable homes on site had been deemed unviable.

In a new report, officers said the build-to-rent flats would "offer higher-quality, managed and regulated rental housing that may be more readily available to occupiers to move into in comparison to for sale housing".

Build-to-rent housing is designed exclusively for the rental market, instead of private sale.

Officers ruled the development would "best optimise the site and represent a high standard of design as a result of well-considered architecture, layout and landscaping".

Planning documents added: "The application site presents a significant opportunity to deliver much-needed housing in the borough on the previously developed site in a highly sustainable location, close to Norbiton station.

"The proposal will create an exemplary development that sets a new standard for sustainable design, social value, and meaningful place-making."

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