First pictures of new village reveal what ‘largest urban development’ since 2012 Olympics will look like
By Charlotte Lillywhite, Local Democracy Reporter
Pictures have revealed what a new village will look like after it was dubbed the “largest urban development” to open in the capital since the Olympic Games in 2012.
Springfield Village, in Tooting, will officially open to the public on July 5 as part of national celebrations to mark 75 years of the NHS, after a hospital site was revamped, with hundreds of homes set to be built in the next three years.
The £150million revamp of Springfield University Hospital, with two new mental health facilities, is at the centre of the scheme from South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust.
The Trinity building opened to patients in December 2022, with Shaftesbury set to open later this year.
The village will also include a new 32-acre park, shops, cafés, a care home, land for a school and more than 800 homes by 2026.
The park is opening to the public in two stages and will include a pavilion café, amphitheatre, youth shelter, play areas and a sensory garden.
The biggest part of the park will open this summer, with the remaining area scheduled to open in autumn next year.
Some new homes have already been built in the village, with a total of 839 approved and works planned up to 2026.
Plans for 449 more homes to be built on remaining plots of land are being considered by Wandsworth council and would take the total up to 1,288 if approved.
The trust said the village is the “largest urban development in London since the 2012 Olympics and has been designed in collaboration with staff, patients and local people over a number of years to break down barriers and open up the Springfield site for the benefit of the community”.
The overall scheme is being led by developer STEP with the trust and other partners including Barratt London, London Square, Sir Robert McAlpine, Lawrence Baker and City & Country.
It forms part of the trust’s aim to transform mental health services in South West London, including the planned revamp of Tolworth Hospital in Kingston and Barnes Hospital in Richmond.
Vanessa Ford, chief executive of the trust, said: “Bringing our services closer to the people we serve symbolises just how far we have come as a society in changing attitudes and breaking the enduring stigma around mental illness.”
Pictured top: CGI of the new Springfield Village (Picture: South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust)