21 January 2011
A New Home in Surbiton for Royal Star & Garter Residents
The Royal Star & Garter Charity is delighted to announce that it has exchanged contracts for the purchase of a site for its new London Home to accommodate its disabled ex-Service residents. The site is in Langley Avenue, Surbiton, a pleasant residential area, only a little over five miles from the Charity's current home in Richmond.
Full implementable planning permission for a care home on the site was granted in October 2009, and allows for a three-storey building that encompasses underground parking, and landscaped gardens with mature trees. The site is the optimum size to meet the Charity's requirements for accommodating the 60 residents of the Richmond Home who will move to the new building. The Charity's residents are all men and women who have served in the armed forces, or the widow(er)s, spouses and civil partners of ex-Service people. The state-of-the-art facilities in the new home will also allow the Charity to offer secure dementia care and, if necessary, interim care for younger disabled ex-Service people.
Work is proceeding to establish the internal design requirements, produce a detailed technical design package, and initiate the tender process. From the start of construction it is estimated that the building might be completed in under 18 months with the new home welcoming the residents in the first half of 2013, although at this early stage of the development process these predications may need revision.
The Royal Star & Garter's Chief Executive, Mike Barter said: "This is a very exciting start to the New Year for The Royal Star & Garter Homes. Surbiton is a thriving centre with good amenities and transport facilities, and the site is close to the river and the historic market town of Kingston upon Thames with its excellent range of shops, theatre, museum and other facilities for the residents to enjoy. Whilst we will be very sad to leave Richmond, where we have many friends, the Langley Avenue site is only a short distance away, minimising inconvenience to the residents, their families, our staff and volunteers. It is very fitting that as a Charity with a Royal Charter since 1979, our new London Home should be located in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames."
Leader of Kingston Council, Cllr Derek Osbourne, said: "We are delighted to welcome The Royal Star & Garter to our Royal Borough. I am sure that everyone will feel a sense of pride that we will be the new home to this respected charity and its residents."
Cllr Yogan Yoganathan MBE, Chair of the Surbiton Neighbourhood Committee, was equally enthusiastic saying, "We are delighted to hear that The Royal Star & Garter Home will be moving to our Surbiton Neighbourhood."
On a visit to the Richmond Home on Wednesday 19th January, the Charity's President, HRH Princess Alexandra, said: "Just over two years ago I had the pleasure of opening the Royal Star & Garter Charity's first new home in Solihull, West Midlands which has been a tremendous success. I am delighted that residents at the Richmond Home will be accommodated in similarly spacious, modern surroundings with excellent facilities, and I look forward to visiting them in their new Surbiton Home in 2013."
Photo Captions:
1. Computer-generated image of The Royal Star & Garter Home - Surbiton as it will look from Upper Brighton Road.
2. One of the spacious bed-sitting rooms in The Royal Star & Garter Home - Solihull