Country’s first criminal asylum at risk from over-development
Picture shows the Female Airing Court in 1910
Grade II-listed, 1863, Joshua Jebb
The Grade II-listed Broadmoor Hospital was built in the early 1860s as the country’s first asylum for the criminally insane. Although often erroneously described as a prison, it is a hospital and its original design reflected a humane attitude to mental health. The complex is now at risk because of an ambitious and damaging plan to demolish part of the original hospital, convert the remaining blocks into a boutique hotel and build more than a hundred homes in the hospital’s vast kitchen garden. Its buildings are now considered unfit for purpose and the NHS has submitted plans for a £250m redevelopment of the site. Under the proposals the original female wing and a block called Essex House will be demolished.
Ian Dungavell, Director of the The Victorian Society said ‘We are concerned about the loss of historic buildings and that demolition will effectively write the presence of women out of Broadmoor’s history and we are worried about the damaging effect of building so many new homes in this listed landscape. But most of all we fear that this development jeopardises the future of Broadmoor’s unique and well-preserved historic buildings. The hospital claims it is protecting the listed buildings by building on woodland on the edge of the site, but how easy is it going to be to find a long-term use for Broadmoor’s buildings when they are situated so close to a high-security psychiatric institution? Many of the buildings on our Top Ten list have suffered years of neglect, but Broadmoor is still in good condition and remarkably intact. It is vital that short-term decisions don’t compromise its future.’
Status Update / March 2026
After featuring in our campaign in 2011, Broadmoor has been the subject of a number of adaptive reuse proposals, with the best-known consisting of its redevelopment as a hotel. Whilst none of these proposals have come to fruition, some progress has been made in repairing the building and preparing it for an alternative use. The NHS Trust has commissioned a revised residential-led masterplan for the site, which includes newbuild homes and a care home, as well as 56 apartments within the existing building.