Former hospital transformation plans lodged

A £3.7m scheme has been unveiled to transform a former hospital in Greater Manchester into a GP surgery and wellbeing centreEntrepreneurial investor Mark Schofield has submitted full plans for the old Stretford Memorial Hospital in Old Trafford following a pre-application which was approved by Trafford Council last October.The hospital, on Seymour Grove, closed in 2015 and the 2.5-acre site has lain empty since then.Commercial real estate adviser Avison Young is selling the site, which is owned by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.Sale-based architect Howard & Seddon Partnership were enlisted to draw up the proposals to revamp and modernise the main buildings.The site comprises Basford House, which was built in 1860 as a private residence, plus a two-storey wing.Under Schofield’s blueprint, Basford House will be revamped and converted into a GP surgery. The two-storey building will become the day-care mental health and wellbeing centre.Two existing single-storey buildings will be renovated to service the surgery. There will also be a car park and extensive landscaping works to preserve green open spaces and protect well-established trees in the grounds.Schofield said: “I hope the trust will embrace the proposal for re-use for healthcare services rather than wait for unsubstantiated and unrealistic housing proposals, especially as in the meantime security costs are having to be met by the taxpayer.”Basford House was built as a home for Henry Beecroft Jackson, a retired cotton shipping merchant turned venture capitalist.During the First World War, it was lent to the British Red Cross as a staging hospital for injured service personnel.From 1925, it was a maternity hospital. Pop star Andy Gibb, brother of the Bee Gees, was born there in 1958.It later became a geriatric hospital which closed in 2015 when services were transferred to Trafford General.