Project Summary
- Various clients with units in primary shopping frontages, city and town centres.
- Buildings were listed or of townscape significance.
- Multiple use permissions required to maximise value, future leasing potential and multiple marketing opportunities.
The Planning Process
Although all the sites were different, the various locations were all experiencing retail demand difficulties. A number of premises were also Grade II listed and therefore permitted development rights did not apply.
Individual strategies were designed for each site, taking account of the building’s status, relevant policy designations and the alternative land uses being sought. In order to maximise viability only applications for dual or multiple uses were pursued under Class V of Part 3 of Schedule 2 of the General Permitted Development (England) Order 2015.
All these applications dealt with the change of use of existing shops or banks in primary shopping frontages, and required us to carry out retail surveys to establish the local land use mix and assess the impact of the loss of one unit.
With the listed building submissions only changes of use only with no external or internal alterations were secured to focus on the principle of development and to achieve swift, clean consents. Agreements were reached with Local Planning Authorities that alterations would be dealt with under separate Planning and Listed Building applications. Similarly, in order to minimise the scope of applications and because their purpose was to maximise marketing opportunities, alterations and operational details were agreed to be dealt with through the discharge of conditions (with the exception of noise assessments where these were essential to demonstrate compatibility with nearby residential properties).