Kingsbury Hall Retirement & Care Village in North Warwickshire is a new-build collection of homes accommodating everyone from down-sizers to those needing high dependency care on a temporary or long-term basis. Whilst the Grade II* Listed Kingsbury Hall has never been publicly accessible, it is held in great affection by the local community, so for the first time, the Hall and grounds will be publicly accessible providing community space for both the new occupants and existing local residents to get together.

When APEC was first approached by the owner of the stunning but desperately in need Kingsbury Hall, it was in a state of semi-repair. Consent had been granted in 2007 for a scheme to convert the Hall into residential apartments, alongside a row of new build dwellings. However, the economic crash, coupled with spiralling costs for the fabric repairs, had stalled the project. The Hall was in a deteriorating condition, vulnerable to vandalism by its lack of occupation. Back in 2010, following a short feasibility study, APEC could not offer an alternative solution that was viable, and could only recommend that the Hall be secured as best as possible until economic conditions improved, or a larger enabling scheme be realised.

By 2017, the client had acquired the adjoining agricultural field; an action that Historic England had encouraged to accommodate some further enabling development. A market appraisal had identified a significant shortage of high dependency care accommodation in the local area, and a number of service providers confirmed this, expressing interest in the site.

However, the critical size that a high dependency unit required to be commercially viable was significantly larger than the Hall, and was at risk of overly dominating the site. Instead, APEC proposed that the new facility be placed to the opposite end of the site, and that a variety of accommodation should be provided, ranging from entirely independent houses to supported-living apartments, creating a mixed community and a critical mass of population that could support the sustainable use of the Hall as providing ancillary social and wellbeing space.

The site’s prominent setting in the Tame Valley provided much inspiration for development of the design which uses the natural contours of the site to shape the layout of streets and footpaths. Opportunities have been taken to work with the important ecological environment of the Tame Valley. The layout and detailed design of the site creates a semi-rural environment, knitting the site’s natural assets into the scheme, with a new riverside walk that loops through the site, accessible from Kingsbury Village, and linking through to an existing public footpath. New houses are set back from the brow of the hill, enabling the Hall to remain the dominant feature on the landscape, and retaining the vast majority of trees; particularly those on the river bank.