Goldcrest Custom Homes Ltd unveils plan to create 20 new homes on site of former Fenwick hospital in Pikes Hill, Lyndhurst

PLANS have been unveiled to create 20 homes on the site of a former New Forest community hospital.

As reported in the A&T, the former Fenwick hospital in Pikes Hill, Lyndhurst, was sold by the NHS despite residents’ outcry and claims it had been gifted to the village by its founder George Fenwick.

Opened in 1909, it closed as a hospital in 2005 and was run as a health and wellbeing centre by Social Care in Action (SCiA) from 2008 to 2022.

It was sold last October for £825,000 by auction house Allsop, which declined to confirm the details of the winning bidder.

The A&T can reveal the new owner of the site is London-based Goldcrest Custom Homes, which has launched a public consultation on the site’s redevelopment.

The plans include the creation of 16 dwellings, comprising a mixture of two, three and four-bedrooms.

Cottages at the site entrance would be converted into four houses.

The brochure states: “A very high-quality standard of design is envisaged, with each dwelling having access to a generous sized curtilage with car parking, designed to reflect the character of Pikes Hill”.

The scheme would bring “ecological enhancements and opportunities to deliver biodiversity net gain” alongside energy efficient measures and sustainable design features, it states.

Goldcrest director Ahmed Collins told the A&T: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to regenerate this brownfield site with a scheme of small family houses and retain the magnificent Victorian cottages.

“The final scheme will be progressed after the pre-application consultation process with the local authority”.

When the site first came on the market, the League of Friends of Fenwick Hospital had hoped to secure the site as a community asset. But its chair George Dibben said that while it had been offered first refusal to buy the land, it was not financially possible for the group.