A DEVELOPER has revised its plans to build retirement apartments and a care home on the site of a former office building in Andover.

McCarthy Stone, on behalf of Care UK, is seeking planning permission to redevelop Guilbert House, in Greenwich Way, which was auctioned in March 2022 with a guide price of £3m.

The developer initially submitted a planning application in December 2022 to build a 62-unit retirement development, alongside an 80-bed care home.

However, this application was withdrawn in April this year.

McCarthy Stone has now submitted a new application that does not specify the number of units in the retirement development.

READ MORE: McCarthy Stone lodge plans to redevelop Guilbert House, Andover

The Guilbert House site comprises a vacant three-storey former office building, dating from the 1990s, within a landscaped parking area, at the junction of Newbury Road and Greenwich Way.

Earlier in 2022, McCarthy Stone held a consultation to inform people, including residents, councillors and interest groups, of the emerging proposal and to offer them the opportunity to provide feedback.

The new proposal seeks to erect a block of retirement living apartments which would “provide the opportunity for a high-quality development” that would positively contribute to meeting the specialised accommodation needs of the elderly.

The plans include an 80-bed care home with associated parking - the same as in the previous application.

The care home has been designed by Care UK to meet its operational specification, as the developer and operator.

The application states: “The proposed development would provide specialist accommodation which would cater for the ageing population of Test Valley.

“It would take place on previously developed land, it would provide a release of under-occupied housing thus reducing the need for new housing on greenfield sites, it would increase consumer choice, create a more balanced community by having greater housing choice available to it.

“It would result in the occupants of the development shopping locally thus assisting in the economic wellbeing of the area. The construction phase would create employment approximately 50-80 jobs as well as some in related support industries.”

To view the application, go to view-applications.testvalley.gov.uk/online-applications and search 23/02485/FULLN.

To view the withdrawn application, search 22/03152/FULLN.