Developers have confirmed plans to build 178 new homes on the site of a former mental health hospital in Muswell Hill.

Hanover housing trust, the developers who purchased the six-acre St Luke’s Hospital site in Woodside Avenue for �26million earlier this year, unveiled more detailed plans during a second consultation with residents, including a scale model of the site.

The plans include provision for the capital’s first “co-housing” community of 30 homes, which will have a number of shared facilities like laundries and guest rooms, but also have the advantage of being self-contained.

Jeremy Green, member of the Co-housing Woodside group, said: “It is going to be a beautiful site and my wife and I are excited about the chance to live in a community where people care about each other.”

The majority of the scheme, around 70 per cent, will be reserved for the over-55s looking to downsize from family homes.

Hanover’s chief executive Bruce Moore said: “We wanted to help people to downsize and we felt we could do something really good with a site like St Luke’s.

“Older residents who currently live in large family-sized properties have told us that they are happy they will have the opportunity to scale down but stay in Muswell Hill.”

Mr Moore said they will be submitting a planning application to Haringey Council in November and, if successful, hope properties will be ready to move into by summer 2015.

One resident at the consultation told the Broadway: “I think the development is good for the area, although I have concerns about the knock-on effect the new houses will have on parking for those of us living in nearby roads.”

The four-bedroom family houses, which will be built towards the Grand Avenue end of the site, will go on the market at around �1.6million, while a two-bed property for over-55s will be about �500,000.