A bar and new apartments will be built as part of a 'regeneration' project despite worries over its 'alien' design. A new bar or café, a shop, and apartments will be added to the existing Victorian buildings on the corner of Woolpack Lane and Stoney Street in the Lace Market, after Nottingham City Council granted permission on August 22.
The new four-storey white brick glazed extension to 15-17 Stoney Street will wrap around the curved corner from Stoney Street to the car park area. Above the bar there will be seven one-bed and two-bed apartments and office space.
The two buildings were previously used as educational workshops and the construction would have no effect externally on the buildings' frontages, but would involve some internal upgrading. The new extension will be the focal point for what developers have called a new ‘business club/hub’.
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Local residents previously said the plans, if sympathetically designed, would be a welcome addition to the "popular" area. The company behind the plans highlighted the space on the corner of Woolpack Lane and Stoney Street created by the demolition of a previous structure, and have argued the proposal "completes this existing building and provides a key frontage onto this main route through Hockley."
But Nottingham Civic Society had raised concerns over whether the new construction would fit into the Lace Market's architectural style - criticising its design as 'alien' to the conservation area. In a planning document, a spokesperson said: "We have reservations regarding the design and materials proposed. The scale and proportions appear appropriate, the white glazed cladding is not characteristic of the Lace Market CA, except within lightwells.
"The design creates an alien, sterile termination to the buildings whose principal elevations are enriched with window detailing. There may be a case for making a distinction between the materials used in buildings north of Woolpack Lane as compared with those to its south, since this street marks a boundary between the Georgian residential then retail development of Goose Gate and the character area of the Victorian lace warehouses in the core of the conservation area south of Woolpack Lane.
"However, this distinction should not run through the application site itself since the building being extended is clearly part of the Victorian, decorated, red-brick tradition strongly characterised in Stoney Street by the Grade II* listed Adams' Building amongst many others. Thus, the current extension fails to preserve or enhance the character and appearance of the conservation area and its design and materials should be reconsidered."
A Nottingham City Council planning officer noted these comments, but raised no objection to the design, stating the white glazed brick "is considered to work well with the proposed architectural aesthetic of the extension and is juxtaposition with the adjacent red brick buildings". The council did however have some reservations about the use of a 'brick slip' system, a cladding which gives the appearance of brickwork, and said officers would have to review samples on site before development could continue above the ground level.
The applicant has confirmed that the existing Stoney Street frontage will remain unchanged in planning documents. A number of windows had initially been proposed to be replaced, but it has now been agreed existing windows will be retained.
The council planning officer, in a planning document on the decision, added the project would be a 'positive regeneration'. "The scale and mass of the proposed four storey extension on the corner of Stoney Street and Woolpack Lane is considered to be acceptable and would tie in well with the general scale of development on the eastern side of Stoney Street," they said.
"The ground floor has been enhanced to provide greater activity to both street frontages and a small retail space created, through re-location of the substation, again to the benefit of the street frontages. Furthermore, thorough development of this prominent Stoney Street /Woolpack Lane corner, the proposal would provide positive regeneration within the Creative Quarter."
The developers, Perrymead Estates Ltd., have undertaken a number of regeneration projects of historic buildings in the Lace Market area since 2016. These include 3-4 Kayes Walk, 41-43 St Mary’s Gate, and Sutton Place.
In a planning document, Marsh And Grochowski on behalf of applicant Perrymead Estates Ltd, said: "The proposal is to provide a distinct improvement of the blank façade of the end of number 15 Stoney Street by continuing 15 Stoney Street around the corner of Stoney Street / Woolpack Lane with a contemporary representation of the buildings facing Stoney Street.
"This new curved extension will envelop the rather poor existing corner elevation with its add on extensions and sub-station, providing a much improved façade in the Conservation Area. It is intended that this new extension would be the focal point for a new ‘business club/hub’ and an F&B offer incorporated at ground floor level with its entrance on the corner."
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