Plans in for Bury office-to-resi
Prior approval is sought by Long View Estates to convert commercial space at Lester House into 28 town centre apartments.
The building is located at the junction of Broad Street and Market Street close to Bury’s transport interchange and Mil Gate shopping centre.
Project 3 Architects and Hestia Town Planning lead the professional team for the proposed conversion.
The ground and first floors at Lester House are occupied by retail & leisure tenants, with the floors above taken up by office suites at present.
According to a supporting statement provided by Hestia, the proposal is for 28 flats: 27 on the upper three floors and one at first floor level. Car parking will be retained in the basement, with 20 spaces.
Twenty one-bedroom apartments are proposed, along with six two-beds, five of them duplexes. There will be a single one-bedroom duplex, and a two-bedroom, four-person duplex.
In Stockport most notably, but also in Oldham and parts of Trafford, Greater Manchester’s towns have seen councils and developers keen to drive town centre living, supporting local leisure economies and aligning development with transport hubs.
As set out by Hestia, the applicant “has undertaken a review of housing demand in the area and considers that this type of property is very much in demand for the area and would be an appropriate use for the building, providing well maintained and high-end accommodation in a very sustainable location”.
Lester House was at one time owned and managed by multi-let industrial property specialist Hamilton Heath Estates, which remains one of a number of tenants still at the building, according to the firm’s website.
Long View’s plans can be viewed on Bury Council’s planning portal with the reference 72135.
Secondary centres like Bury should think long and hard about allowing office to resi conversions unless they are absolutely sure there is no demand for office space.
This building is reasonably modern, in an excellent location, close to transport links and apparently isn’t vacant. Even after the growth of wfh, access to professional services and office when people do need to go in are still strong drivers of footfall.
By Anonymous
There is a big big difference between wanting to live in Manchester City Centre and Bury or Bolton Town Centre. Offices will have 25 year leases tops so you will be stuck with a failing building for that period of time max. Sell resi plots on 125 years leases and it could become a major problem long term if it doesn’t work.
By Loganberry
Living above a couple of chicken takeaways, Kebab shops, Subway’s and a Nail Bar. I’m sure the “high end accomodation” will be snapped up. Better use would be the Council making it Temporary Accomodation for those sleeping in the streets outside. A bad idea that will get support from this myopic local authority.
By Annoying Mouse