Plans to build nearly 200 retirement apartments, a restaurant and bar on a derelict plot of land in Plymouth have been abandoned because of the “challenging business environment”.
Developers had been planning to create a “retirement village”, creating 65 jobs, on a brownfield patch of former railway land known as Tothill Sidings, near the Friary Retail Park, in central Plymouth.
Inglis and Carr Architects were brought in to create plans for 195 flats, and care and wellness facilities including a lounge, café/bistro, licensed bar, games room, village hall, gym and fitness suite, library and IT lounge, arts and crafts room plus wellness clinic staffed by a registered nurse and “empowerment suite” for those living with dementia.
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A public consultation was even carried out in November 2020 for the new development, which was due to be called Friary Village, with the intention of plans being submitted to Plymouth City Council.
But the company set up to steer the development, Future Street (Plymouth) Ltd, has gone into voluntary liquidation and founding director Jenny West told Business Live the development was now “not happening”.
She said: “The current climate plays a large part so right now it is not going ahead. It’s a challenging business environment, for sure.”
Parent firm, Surrey-based Future Street, continues however, and is working on plans for further retirement community developments in cities and on the fringes of towns and villages.
Mrs West, head of operations at Future Street, said there is a dearth of “retirement living” and said:” The need for older persons’ accommodation is significant, and that is the need we are continuing to explore - although not right now in Tothill, Plymouth.”
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At one time Tothill Sidings hummed with the sound of trains passing under Tothill Bridge to the Plymouth Friary station. Passenger services stopped in 1958 and the site is now largely redundant and overgrown.
The abandoned Future Street development envisaged one integrated building comprising “The Future Street”: a central amenity, activity, event and entertainment hub designed, in conjunction with the apartments, to “empower residents and support social connection”.
There were also plans for extensive green open space communal landscaped garden areas including courtyards, sensory garden, greenhouse, raised beds, herb garden, allotments, hobby shed and a segment of cycle route.The village was designed to provide an economically viable retirement solution for residents.
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The independent living apartments would have varied in layout and size - including one-, two- and three-bed options ranging from 50sq m to 120sq m in size. They would have been available for rent or part-buy-part-rent, and were designed to suit residents requiring care and support. The apartments would have been wheelchair accessible and adaptable with some specifically designed as wheelchair-user dwellings.
The café/bistro, licensed bar and games room, village hall, hair and beauty salon and gym were planned to be open for the general public to use to encourage social interaction amongst older and younger members of the wider community. Cyclists using the city’s cycle route were to have had access to “The Future Street” and its open communal gardens.
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