Leading planning & design consultancy Barton Willmore has secured outline planning permission on behalf of Helical Bar and Urban Renaissance Villages for a retirement village at the former St Loye's College, Exeter.

This is the latest of a number of retirement communities that Barton Willmore has successfully designed and promoted recently,

This community involves the retention and conversion of three existing buildings to provide apartments, warden's accommodation and extensive community facilities including a heritage centre. In addition, a further 202 homes, 50 affordable Extra Care apartments and a 50-bed care home have been provided.

Members of Exeter City Council were very complimentary of the proposals and permission was granted with the unanimous support of the planning committee.

Planning Director Guy Flintoft of Barton Willmore's Kent Office said: "This has been a particularly involving project to work on because of the planning issues it raised. We have worked very hard in order to gain support for the demolition of a number of locally listed buildings and the replacement of existing sports pitches as well as through difficult negotiations for on and off-site affordable housing. We are delighted with the outcome and how enthusiastically the planning committee welcomed our proposals.”

Design Partner James Carr of Barton Willmore's London Office, added:

“With the wide range of skills and expertise at Barton Willmore we have a great knowledge base to draw on when approaching complex projects of this kind. By having planning and design departments within the same company we are able to easily share information/experiences in order to come up with great architecture, which we can feel confident will be accepted by the planners.”

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For further information, please contact: William Haigh/Kelly Bradshaw, Halogen T: 020 7087 3260 E: william.haigh@halogenuk.com NOTE TO EDITORS ABOUT BARTON WILLMORE Established in 1936, Barton Willmore is one the UK's leading independent planning and design practices. The practice became an LLP on 1st April 2009. Barton Willmore offers comprehensive planning, masterplanning, landscape design, project management, design and regeneration expertise. The practice acts for both private and public sector clients across all types of development, from key national urban regeneration sites to a local village hall. Barton Willmore has nine regional offices around the UK: Reading, London, Leeds, Solihull, Bristol, Cambridge, Kent, Cardiff and Edinburgh. Notable developments on which Barton Willmore is working include: Boulton Moor, Worcester Bosch, Longbridge, Stirling East Major, Chester Zoo and Eastern Quarry in the Thames Gateway International projects include the King Abdullah International Gardens (KAIG) and Kingdom Land in Saudi Arabia and Beitun City in China.

William Haigh Account Manager : Halogen william.haigh@halogenuk.com http://www.halogenuk.com/

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