Nottingham office block demolition set for approval
Councillors have been urged to back a proposal to build 22 apartments on the site of a vacant 1970’s commercial building, ahead of a planning committee meeting next week.
Revised plans for the site at Clinton Terrace, which already has consent for a 15-home residential development, were put forward by developer Clinton View in March this year – and the scheme has now been given the thumbs up by the city council’s planning officers.
Under the proposals, the “unsympathetic” offices, occupied until 2025 by student accommodation provider Uni2Rent, would be demolished to make way for a townhouse-style five storey building, containing 17 one-bedroom and five two-bedroom flats.
Clinton View snapped up the site, which sits next to the former Park Octagon office complex, in 2021.
But after conducting a review, the developer now believes a smaller scheme which was approved in 2023 is no longer commercially viable, due to escalating build costs.
In a statement submitted to Nottingham City Council with the application, the developer said the proposals were expanded in response to a government push for greater density in the updated national planning framework, adding that the commercial viability of the previously consented development was already “borderline”.
“Unfortunately the revised application also does not generate enough profit for a section 106 contribution, as demonstrated in the submitted viability report. This is a result of build costs increasing by 19%,” it said.
“Planning and the current thinking around design, relating to the NPPF is to encourage greater density. Since the last application was approved and the change of government, this has become an even greater priority. This emphasis on higher density is reflected in the current proposal, with very little, if any additional effect on the amenity of neighbouring properties.”
The plans have been recommended for approval ahead of a meeting of Nottingham City Council’s planning committee on Wednesday, 17 June.
The project team includes CBP Architects, Locus Consulting, heb Chartered Surveyors, and Roberts Highway Consultants.
Plans and documents relating to the proposals can be found on Nottingham’s planning portal using reference: 26/00357/PFUL3
