Application in for £2.5m Preston warehouse conversion

Etc Urban Developments has submitted plans to transform an empty Victorian warehouse on Preston’s Guildhall Street into duplex apartments.

The Preston-based developer, which specialises in city centre residential and commercial regeneration projects, proposes to deliver 17 two-bedroom and one-bedroom ‘loft-style’ apartments and studios in the former carriage factory.

The building was built in the 1890s and converted into a yeast warehouse in the 1920s. The concept aims to retain as many of the original warehouse features as possible and the exterior will be refurbished to its original red brick appearance.

Detailed plans have been submitted to Preston City Council and if approved construction will begin immediately, with the homes set to go on the market early next year.

Plans include a street-level arcade of commercial space aimed at restaurant and café bar or retail use. The basement will provide secure car-parking for the majority of residents allocated on a ‘first-come-first-sold’ basis to the apartment buyers.

The scheme is backed by the government’s Growing Places Fund, led in Preston by the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership and a part of the City Deal investment.

Neil Thornton, director of Etc Urban Developments, said: “We believe Preston city centre needs the kind of historic residential development that has helped to transform the centres of other Northern cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield. Bringing people back into the centre to live, work and play has helped to revitalise the day and night-time economies of these cities.”

Thornton continued: “Our aim is to deliver the first residential warehouse scheme in Preston city centre, to set a benchmark of quality architecture and interior design and provide a real sense of space.”

Etc Urban Developments has worked on regeneration projects in the Manchester’s Northern Quarter and Ancoats, Liverpool’s waterfront, London Southbank, and projects in New York, Tokyo and Berlin.