Former factory site will become £25m retirement village

Orbit Homes and Coventry-based Deeley Properties are planning to create an ‘independent living with care’ scheme on former industrial land off Queensway, which will include 179 one and two-bedroom apartments.

The new scheme – aimed at the over-55s and managed by housing association Orbit Heart of England – is designed to provide affordable living and will include a restaurant, café, garden room, hairdressing salon and IT suite – many of which will be available for use by the wider community.

The development is planned for the former AL-KO Kober site which has been redundant for 12 years since the firm moved to a state-of-the-art complex in Southam.

Pat Moroney, a director of Deeley Properties, said: “We believe this is an ideal use for this site. Not only will it bring investment, employment and vitality to the area, it will see imaginative and wholly appropriate use of a brownfield site which has been dormant for a long time.

“A massive amount of work has gone into the scheme, much of it in consultation with the local authority.

“The plans were viewed very positively by those who attended the consultation and also the development review forum.”

The new development would create more than 50 jobs and the two companies would hope to start work on the scheme early next year if it wins planning consent.

Lorraine Mansfield, business development manager at Orbit Heart of England, said: “If these plans are given the go ahead, Queensway would be our biggest independent living with care scheme to date, and we’re very excited about it.

“This scheme would not only reinvigorate a site in a central location that has been out of commission for some time, it would also provide fantastic facilities for older people in the area.”