Consent for scaled-back park-side resi in Preston

Heaton Group has secured approval for updated plans to redevelop the three acres around Park Hotel, which feature shorter blocks and fewer apartments than originally proposed.

The developer secured consent for its three-acre Faringdon Square project overlooking Preston’s Miller Park last year. It comprised a 65-bed aparthotel within the former Park Hotel and 321 apartments across two new-build blocks.

However, several changes to the project have been made in the intervening period, meaning it had to be determined again by Preston City Council last week.

These changes included reducing the height of the two proposed apartment buildings to bring them under the high-risk building threshold – 18 metres and above – as set out in the Building Safety Act.

The BSA stipulates that any building taller than 18 metres is required to pass through the three-stage gateway approval process, which has been plagued by delays.

To avoid costly hold-ups, Heaton Group has reduced the height of its buildings from nine storeys to six. As a result, the number of flats in the new-build blocks has been cut by 82 from 321 to 239. Plans to convert 8 East Cliff into eight flats remain unchanged.

While there are now fewer apartments proposed within the scheme, the number of short-stay units within the former Park Hotel building has gone up from 65 to 92 under the revised plans.

To find out more about the most recent plans for the site, search for application number 06/2023/0509 on Preston City Council’s planning portal.

DAY Architectural is the architect and Paul Butler Associates is advising on planning. Also on the project team is landscape architect DEP Landscape Architecture, transport consultant SK Transport, and noise consultant RED Acoustics.