Walsingham Planning has a long-standing and “healthy” working relationship with BMI in the management of their estate of private hospitals.
The changing demands of the healthcare business have meant that many hospitals, once at home in listed mansions or rural estates, are no longer suited to the premises in which they find themselves. They lack parking, they have inadequate facilities for disabled patients, they have insufficient space for the scale and number of rooms needed for modern equipment and they have, for a long time, relied upon temporary buildings with expired “use-by” dates.
Add to this the ever changing complications of the permitted development rules, as they relate to hospitals, and the difficulties of adapting old houses and listed buildings for modern hospital use, and BMI’s need for planning advice was obvious.
In addition, such estates tend to bring with them potential development opportunities outside of the health business. Walsingham Planning is therefore kept busy by BMI in reviewing its estate, optimising the potential of land outside the healthcare portfolio, keeping alive the permissions on which the business depends and preparing for permanent growth as and when required.
The work has covered the full remit of applications, appeals, heritage statements, lawful use submissions and, on occasion, a good, old-fashioned argument over enforcement.