Woking Borough Council has approved plans by developer HGNL Woking to demolish Lion House, a 1970s office building at 147 Oriental Road, and replace it with a 76-bed care home for older people.
The three-storey building will fall within Use Class C2 and include 74 en-suite bedrooms, communal lounges, an activity room, a hobby room and hairdressers, along with landscaped gardens, amenity space, car and cycle parking, and 30 parking spaces, including two accessible bays. The application was treated as a major development and was recommended for approval subject to conditions and a Section 106 legal agreement.
The site sits within the urban area of Woking and is close to several notable neighbouring uses and heritage assets, including the Grade II listed Shah Jahan Mosque and curtilage structures to the north, Lion Retail Park to the east, and St Paul’s Church and Pembroke Court to the south.
The proposal is also within a medium surface water flood risk area, an area of suspected contamination, and the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area Zone B. Planning history notes a prior approval to convert the existing building into 23 residential units, permitted in February 2026.
The care home design aims to respond to the local character, retain views to the mosque from Oriental Road, and make effective use of brownfield land in a prominent location.
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