Adhan bags consent at Blackburn gasworks site
The local property company has secured planning permission for nine industrial units totalling 155,700 sq ft.
In line with officer recommendation, Blackburn with Darwen Council has now signed off on the application from Adhan Construction to build out the units, along with 173 parking spaces, on a site off Greenbank Road neighbouring the historic Imperial Mill.
The gas holder at the site was demolished in 2002, since when the site has been fully remediated. The site is allocated for employment.
The units will be a mixture of one- and two-storey buildings and will occupy around 37% of the total site footprint. Units 1 to 4, which will be two-storey, account for 134,500 sq ft of the total. Of this, the largest is around 42,500 sq ft and the smallest 26,500 sq ft.
No comments were received following publication of the intention to develop.
Adhan’s professional team was led by architect Campbell Driver Partnership and planner Rural Solutions, with transport planner Mode, Rachel Hacking Ecology, PWA Engineers and Hinchcliffe Heritage in support, the latter dealing largely with the Imperial Mill’s grade two-listed status.
The planning officer’s report said: “The development is accepted as causing a low level of harm to the setting of Imperial Mill, by obstructing some views from the northern aspect” but that in the context of the site’s allocation, and that clear views are a relatively recent consequence of the gasworks’ being cleared, this should not obstruct the project.
Adhan Group is active in its home town and beyond. Last year, it puushed forward plans to redevelop Blackburn’s Apex Mill site, while it has also made major retail plays, buying Blackburn’s 600,000 sq ft The Mall this May and Preston’s St George’s Centre in 2021.
Excellent lots of new employment sites being developed in Blackburn
By George