PLANS have been submitted to Durham County Council to build a 74-bed care home facility on the grounds of a listed manor house.

Stem Architects Ltd have prepared a planning statement on behalf of the applicant Torsion Care for the proposed erection of a new residential care home on land to the south of The Drive to the south of the city centre of Durham.

The plans involve a new residential care home building formed alongside garden amenity space, dedicated car parking and access infrastructure.

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The building will be formed over four floors, including a partial lower ground floor, and three additional floors above.

The site sits on land which historically forms part of the grounds of listed asset Mount Oswald which is a manor house built in around 1800. The building itself lies approximately 125 metres from the proposed site, but is broadly screened from the site by existing mature trees.

The neighbouring development of university buildings was also built within the former grounds.

There are 74 resident en-suite bedrooms proposed within the care home, each having an internal area (including en-suite) of minimum 19.7 square metres, with some rooms being larger than this.

Each resident will also have a minimum of 10.94 square metres of day space (or internal amenity space); this includes access to various amenity spaces including dining spaces, lounges and activity spaces.

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The proposed building is predominantly orientated over three storeys, with a smaller lower ground floor set into the gradient of the site which provide ancillary back of house accommodation for the running of the care home including laundry room, plant room and kitchen.

Proposed elevations have been designed with large window openings to resident bedrooms and amenity spaces intentionally to provide improved views for residents of the surrounding area as well as providing good natural lighting internally.

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In addition, terraces to the first and second floor provide additional opportunity for residents to get fresh air and outdoor space, particularly for those that are less able.

Externally, the areas to the north of the site close to the street, as well as a smaller area to the south western side of the building provide secure garden space for residents.

In addition, there are a number of independent patio spaces within the secure garden area for some ground floor rooms.