Site of St Cross Grange care home earmarked for demolition as part of £5,500,000 sale

Industrial Consultancy company Knight Frank has listed the land which is currently occupied by St Cross Grange for £5,500,000 on Rightmove.

As previously reported by the Chronicle, staff and residents at the care home are due to move to a new specialised dementia facility in Giles Hill in the new year.

St Giles View, which will open in the autumn, will be operated by Brendoncare and is complete with 60 purpose-built en-suite bedrooms, as well as a cafe and restaurant, hair and beauty salon, and communal spaces.

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St Cross Grange, in St Cross Road, was built more than 150 years ago, with a history of providing social support and care to older people in Winchester since the 1930s, as well as housing soldiers during WWII.

However, issues with the building have seen it become unsuitable in the long term.

Shona King, director of business development at Greensleeves, the company which runs St Cross Grange, said: "The current building would have required extensive structural repair to provide longevity.

"That work would have meant closing the care home for a significant amount of time and having to look for temporary alternatives for residents and colleagues which would have impacted their daily lives."

Ms King said fellow charity Brendoncare felt like a "really close fit", adding that the move is the "safest possible solution" for residents.

An aerial view of the site currently occupied by St Cross Grange | Knight Frank via Rightmove (Image: Knight Frank)

"We have been jointly consulting everybody throughout and they're all looking forward to this beautiful purpose-built facility," she added. 

"This will provide continuity and familiarity with staff which will allow us to continue to deliver the highest standard of care."

The building was most recently extended in 2013 to provide specialist dementia care.

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The original part of the property is a Victorian villa that was constructed in the late 18th century as a residential dwelling.

As part of the listing, Knight Frank said: "The building currently has some structural defects that require remedial work. We anticipate that an incoming purchaser is likely to demolish the existing building to make way for new development."

It is expected to become vacant in the first quarter of 2023 once of St Giles View is complete and all residents have been relocated.

Patrick Davies, former Labour city councillor and long-serving member of the planning committee, said: “This area is an extremely sensitive wooded site immediately opposite St Cross Hospital and Park. It is at the edge of the water meadows and open countryside. It adjoins Bushfield Down, which is already threatened with development in the new draft Local Plan.

"In my view, serious consideration must be given to retaining and converting the existing buildings at St Cross Grange to other residential uses with the preservation of the landscaping and tree cover of the site.”