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Plans for a care home at a West London civic centre have advanced after talks broke down between the council and a buyer.
Hillingdon Council initially announced plans for a 162-bed nursing home near the Civic Centre in Uxbridge, replacing the Lobster Pot car park. In November 2025, the council announced that it would dispose of the site to a private developer.
However, in March 2026, a senior council officer abruptly decided to "cease negotiations with the proposed purchaser". The documents do not state exactly why the negotiations broke down.
As a result, the plan to sell the site was scrapped. In April, the council decided to take the project in-house to ensure "future resilience in social care budgets".
To keep the project moving, the Cabinet rushed through an urgent decision to fund the planning and design stages using council funds. They released £488,211 to get the scheme to the planning consent stage.
This means that instead of a developer buying the land and managing the build, the council is now directly hiring the architects and consultants itself. So far, they have awarded £227,436 of this budget directly to Hunter and Partners Ltd for architectural and building safety services.
Council documents state that the local authority’s current intention is for The Hillingdon Care Company to take over the facility under a leaseback arrangement once the development is complete. The Hillingdon Care Company is a Special Purpose Vehicle owned by the council.
The tallest element is five storeys facing Hillingdon Road. It is understood this will not overlook nearby houses.
It is expected the home will create between 100-120 local onsite jobs across care, support, catering and maintenance. A significant number of local jobs will be created during the construction of the care home too.
The care home will offer a range of room types to suit different budgets and needs. However, all residents - regardless of room type - will have access to the same care and facilities, gardens, lounges and dining areas.
The home will feature secure, landscaped gardens with sensory planting, outdoor seating and an allotment. There will also be a café, hair salon, resident lounges, casual seating, dining rooms and a cinema room for the care home residents.
The architecture is designed to complement the Civic Centre and nearby historic buildings. The site will provide 35 parking spaces, including EV charging and accessible bays and is said to improve pedestrian environment along Cricket Field Road.
Hillingdon suffers an undersupply of beds locally to a total of 549. By 2034, it is expected that the borough will be 649 short, whilst only 18 per cent of existing care home bedrooms in the local area meet modern standards.
In October 2025, Hillingdon Council said that the proposed development of the site would provide "cost-effective approach to increasing adult social care places in the borough, while also reducing the council's reliance on costly private sector provision to meet ever-growing demand".
The plans still need to go before the planning department as the council submits a formal planning application. It is unclear when this may happen.
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