“Vast majority” of homes built at St. Saviour’s Hospital to be affordable

Tuesday 14 December 2021

The Chief Minister has said that the “vast majority” of the estimated 200 homes that could be built on the site of the former St. Saviour’s Hospital will be social housing, and assisted purchase properties.

Senator John Le Fondré’s assurances came as he answered questions about the future of the site on behalf of the Housing and Communities Minister, Deputy Russell Labey, during this week’s States Assembly sitting.

The site was one of five Government-owned sites the Housing Minister said should be used to provide a total of 500 homes.

Senator Sam Mézec had queried whether a developer had been allocated the site, and how many homes it would include.

Pictured: The Chief Minister said Andium Homes had previously expressed an interest in the site. 

The Chief Minister said there had been “preliminary outline discussions” with Andium Homes, who had previously expressed an interest in the site. 

“They are obviously very keen to progress with a suitable prospective housing development given the importance of that site,” he said.

Senator Le Fondré said the process was in its early stages and would go through a “a very comprehensive design and layout” given its size, location and scale.

“That’s all going to be about creating a mixed development in terms of property types, size, tenure and seeking to build a very strong balanced and sustainable community, so it’s a big site,” he said. 

“At this early stage in the process, it is estimated the site will accommodate as many as 200 units and one would always they can achieve more and the intent is that the vast majority will be social housing and assisted purchase properties with the actual numbers determined as the design progresses.”

When pressed to confirm whether a previous commitment to dedicate 15% of homes built on public-owned land to affordable housing, the Chief Minister reiterated that “it is intended that the vast majority will be the areas I have identified”.

The Chief Minister described the development as “village-sized” and said it would have scope for key worker accommodation. He added, however, that the “very expensive” renovation costs for the granite building, a Grade 1 listed building, would have to be taken into account.

Although several States Members sought to get a definite deadline for when the project would move forward, the Chief Minister said he couldn’t confirm at this stage as there were “a lot of things to go through before pen is put to paper”. 

He explained the future of the site was dependent on the development of a dedicated mental health facility at Overdale receiving planning approval as part of the future hospital plans. After this, he said the services currently on site would have to move to Overdale before demolition can start.

Pictured: Plans on the St. Saviour's site can only move forward once the mental health facility at Overdale gets the green light from planning.

He said the Government would ensure the planning process is running in parallel to the move to ensure that “when site is vacated the diggers can move in”. 

“If there is any delay in getting the mental health facility agreed up at the Overdale site that would mean the provision would continue at St. Saviour’s Hospital until that had been resolved and that could delay,” he explained.

“So, in other words there are things lined up to free these up, we believe we are in a position to start planning but we won’t have absolute certainty until the fate of the scheme at Overdale is resolved. That we hope will be in the first few months of next year and at that point, one will have then absolute certainty and certainty as to a timeline.” 

He also said the exact size of the site would be determined by whether the Health Department decides to establish “a modern facility for dementia” on the site or not, and that it would take a few months to finalise details.

The Chief Minister also assured the Parish that it would have “absolute engagement” in the project, as requested by St. Saviour's Constable, Sadie Le Sueur-Rennard.