CMA House, an empty 1960s, five-storey office building in Nottingham, is to be converted into flats – the first offices to residential change of use in the city centre.
There is over 46,450sq m (500,000 sq ft) of empty 1960s and 1970s office space in the city centre, according to Alan Swales, Nottingham Council’s project development manager.
Mansfield developer Orchard Holdings aims to start work on the 2,415 sq m (26,000 sq ft) building at the corner of St James’s Street and Maid Marian Way by the beginning of next year. It is understood to be negotiating with the freeholder, Clerical Medical, to acquire a long lease. The fund is being advised by Lambert Smith Hampton.
An application has been made to English Partnerships for gap funding. This would cover the difference between the conversion costs of about £1.2m and the building’s end value.
Regional surveyor Tim Love said EP’s involvement was a pilot project to see how the lessons could be applied to other buildings in the region. A decision on funding was likely in about two months, he said.
Twenty-five two bedroom and 10 one bedroomed flats will be created for the North British Housing Association.
CMA House was a case study in a report on the potential of converting Nottingham’s city centre offices to residential produced by architects Church Lukas Hopper Cowley for the city council and Nottingham Development Enterprise.
Other office buildings listed as possible candidates for conversion are Birkbeck House (on which Prudential has a long lease); Barker Gate House; Chaddesden House; Chesterfield House; Cranbrook House; and Castle Heights.
The nine-storey, 5,109 sq m (55,000 sq ft) Birkbeck House in Trinity Square is also likely to be converted to residential, according to Swales. The agent is Nattrass Giles.
EGi News 12/05/97
