A Wiltshire care home that was put up for sale in 2023 has now been bought as new plans for the site are announced.
Highfield Residential Home, at The Common in Marlborough, ceased trading in September 2023 after the owners, who purchased the care home in 2014, decided to “concentrate on other business interests.”
The decision also came after a damning CQC report, which labelled the service “not safe” and saw it placed into special measures.
The care home was put up for sale in November 2023 by estate agents Christie & Co for £1.5 million but has remained vacant ever since.
But now Mr C Weeks from Price & Weeks Property Ltd hopes to transform the former care home into houses.
If planning permission is approved, the 2150 square meter site will be turned into two semi-detached homes each with five to six bedrooms and multiple parking spaces.
“This is a great opportunity to purchase a former care home located in a popular, affluent, and sought-after area which offers great potential for new owners,” said Charles Phillips, director at Christie & Co, when the property first went on the market.
Price & Weeks Property Ltd propose that the ground floor of both houses will be made up of a kitchen, dining room, drawing room, study, utility room and downstairs toilet, although the second house will be slightly larger.
On the first floor, house one will have four bedrooms, a dressing room, three ensuites and a family bathroom.
House two will boast five bedrooms, a dressing room, two ensuites and a family bathroom.
Finally, the first house will include a third storey with two additional bathrooms, a lounge, kitchenette, study and ensuite.
The plans will bring a huge change to the property, which previously hosted nine people aged over 65 and those with dementia.
Highfields Residential Home was closed shortly after CQC found that those residents “were not safe and were at risk of avoidable harm.”
Inspectors discovered that residents would fall “regularly”, and one person suffered seven falls in just six months before a risk assessment was completed.
The exact price of these new large homes replacing the care home is currently unknown, but consultation for the planning application ended on June 13, and Marlborough Town Council has accepted the application without objection.
A final decision on the application won’t be made until July 2.
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