Watford Health Campus

West Hertfordshire Hospitals/NHS Trust

This ambitious scheme was facing planning and design difficulties before Turley Associates was asked to guide the
process. Our comprehensive review of the masterplan and particularly the way it was being communicated, overcame the previous obstacles and led to the outline approval.

Location: London
Status: Ongoing
Size: 74,000 sq m hospital, 15,000 sq m commercial units, 55
residential units, 5,750 sq m retail, 8,500 sq m hotel and 6,500
sq m class D1 clinic and day care facilities, 2,500 sq m CHP
plant, 14 hectares of public open space on a 25 hectare site.
Scale: Quarter

The key issues were:

The site comprises a variety of functional buildingsassociated with the hospital and football club, allotments and former industrial areas adjacent the River Colne.

The development proposals are a departure from the development plan, which seeks to permit employment uses only in the areas around Cardiff Road.

The planning application was prepared on behalf of nine stakeholders including
Watford Borough Council, West Hertfordshire NHS Trust, EEDA and Hertfordshire Prosperity, and required the agreement of a clear planning strategy for the site in order to secure client objectives.

The planning application was prepared after a period of engagement with the
local planning authority, statutory bodies and local and national interest groups as
part of an agreed consultation strategy that included a design workshop and
open exhibition.

Advice was provided on the development of a flexible masterplan that included the preparation of development parameters and principles to allow detailed proposals to be developed on a zone by zone basis as they come forward.

The work included the co-ordination of the professional project team, which
included architects, transport consultants, environmental consultants, a public affairs team, and engineers.

Planning committee resolved to grant permission in May 2008. We are currently
finalising the section 106 agreement.