A Grade-II listed care home in Bushey could knock down interior walls to create larger bedrooms as part of a £1 million revamp.
The Bushey House Beaumont Care Home has applied to Hertsmere Borough Council for permission to demolish internal walls on its first floor level to create nine large bedrooms.
The 1990s extension would see 16 rooms combined to create eight large bedrooms, while another two rooms would be knocked together in the original 19th century house.
The decision is expected later this week and if approved, the £1 million renovations would start in March to be completed in the summer.
Bushey House Beaumont provides personal and nursing care to up to 62 people over two floors over two floors, with shared communal spaces such as a lounge, dining room, activities room and gardens.
Barchester Healthcare, which runs the home, said it hoped to undertake the renovations as part of an ongoing refurbishment programme “aimed at delivering premium services and facilities”.
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Combining the current facilities would allow the home to create “more spacious” bedrooms with en-suite facilities, which it said would be of a higher quality and improve residents’ wellbeing.
The application online also said the introductions of larger ensuites with showers would help control infections and improve residents’ privacy.
Barchester said the majority of the affected bedrooms are currently unoccupied, while residents will be offered an alternative room while works take place.
The provider also said all the walls proposed to be removed are non-structural stud walls and that works will take place behind secure doors with “minimal disruption” to residents and staff.
The application originally proposed the creation of five large rooms but was amended on January 22 to bring the total number to nine.
As the home is a Grade-II building for “special architectural or historic interest”, Hertsmere Borough Council must grant ‘listed building consent’ to allow the company to carry out the works.
According to a ‘Heritage Statement’ submitted in the application, the care home was originally a large house built around 1825, and later remodelled and enlarged in approximately 1900.
However, a Built Heritage Advice document filed online by Place Services stated that the changes would only affect modern partition walls which have no historic significance and would not affect the special interest of the listed building.
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