PLANS for a ‘much-needed care facility’ on the site of a former office building in Andover have been withdrawn.

In December last year McCarthy Stone on behalf of Care UK lodged an application with Test Valley Borough Council to redevelop Guilbert House, in Greenwich Way, which was auctioned in March 2022 with a guide price of £3m.

The 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. 

Under the plans, a 62-unit retirement development would have occupied the site, alongside an 80-bed care home.

However, the borough council’s planning website now states that the application has been ‘withdrawn’, but no explanation given.

McCarthy Stone has been contacted for a comment but it has yet to respond.

The application submitted to the council stated: “This joint application will see both sides of the vacant site developed as two independent builds, but under the same application to facilitate a more joined up and cohesive approach to the development.”

The proposal would have provided specialist, dementia care, residential care and respite care, with the facilities such as a hairdressers, café and cinema available. 

Additional facilities included assisted bathrooms, lounges, dining rooms and flexible day rooms on all floors. A staff lounge and changing facilities were also incorporated.

“It is proposed that the site be divided into two parcels with a four-storey L-shaped building containing 62 Retirement Living Plus apartments for McCarthy Stone occupying the eastern parcel and a residential care home for Care UK with 80 en-suite units on the western parcel,” the application added.

In April 2019, an application to deliver 66 residential apartments on the site was granted approval by the borough council. However, following the planning approval, no steps have been taken to implement the planning consent.

McCarthy Stone previously said that there is a strong local need for specialist retirement living accommodation in Andover.