Archel Homes reveals plans to demolish Baxter Healthcare UK HQ in Compton near Newbury and replace with 40 homes

A housing developer has revealed its plans to demolish an office building and replace it with 40 homes in a village near Newbury.

Archel Homes has submitted a planning application to build the sizable residential development on the site of the current UK headquarters of Baxter Healthcare in Wallingford Road in Compton.

Baxter has sold the land and will be moving to a new office premises in Reading in April.

Archel stated that its vision for the development would be “to create an appropriate urban grain for this sensitive settlement edge” and “to blend with the surrounding neighbourhood” and that it was “proud” to present it to West Berkshire Council for consideration.

Archel added: “The development has been planned positively in order to embody high quality and inclusive design, following a considered appraisal of the identity of Compton and the site’s setting, and will provide a lower density neighbourhood which is landscape led in this sensitive location.”

The 40 homes would be a mix of two-, three- and four-bedroom houses, 12 of which would be affordable.

Eight of these affordable dwellings would be for social rent and four would be shared ownership.

Most of the homes would also have their own private gardens, and there would be 94 total parking bays provided within the development.

The creation of an outdoor amenity area to the north of the homes is also included in the plans, with it containing a local area of play (LAP), open grassland and additional tree planting.

Archel said that when the proposal was shared with council planners during the pre-application stage, it was “generally well-received” with only some “minor revisions” being made in response to the comments from officers.

To find out more about this planning application as well as others that may affect you, visit the Public Notice Portal.