Planning approval for temporary offices during £100m redevelopment of L&D Hospital

Temporary offices can be installed at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital as part of a redevelopment of the site.
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Councillors unanimously approved the project on Wednesday, July 1, during a meeting of Luton Council's development control committee.

Almost £100m is being spent improving the regional medical facility in Lewsey Road.

The purpose of the three-storey office space is to allow for the modernisation of the hospital to proceed.

Luton & Dunstable HospitalLuton & Dunstable Hospital
Luton & Dunstable Hospital

The offices will cover about 2,100sqm and planning permission was granted for a five-year period.

Work on the £99.5m capital project includes the partial redevelopment of the hospital site with an acute services block and a ward block.

It also involves the redevelopment of the Lewsey Road car park to a multi-storey, with some buildings demolished.

This scheme was approved by the borough council's development control committee in March, with the project due to begin this year.

Also agreed then were plans for the five-year use of two plots of land behind 767 to 769 and 779 to 785 Dunstable Road to provide temporary parking for hospital staff.

The short-term office space is the latest in a series of applications from the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

It continues work at the hospital site which is subject to a planning performance agreement between the local authority and the trust, according to a report to the committee.

Principal planning officer Graham Dore said that no objections were received to the proposals, and windows facing Faringdon Road would be fixed and obscured to prevent overlooking concerns.

Labour Farley councillor Dave Taylor, who chairs the committee, told the committee: "It's up to five years and I would hope that they would finish whatever they're doing well within that period."