Vita Group is set to receive planning approval next week for a 966-bed student accommodation scheme on the site of Nottingham’s Guildhall.
Planning officers have recommended councillors approve the scheme, which includes the redevelopment of the Magistrates’ Court and the former fire and police stations.
The site, on Shakespeare Street, North Church Street and South Sherwood Street, already has approved plans for a hotel nearby.
The proposals have attracted some criticism, as Vita’s plans include demolishing a section of a cave system identified as an element of the Guildhall’s Grade II listed building entry. Nottingham Civic Society has objected on the basis of the proposal seeking to “demolish heritage assets worthy of conversion”.
It said: “Removal of these buildings is an unsustainable waste of embodied carbon for the city council aiming for carbon neutrality. The scheme adversely impacts six listed buildings adjacent because of its height and bulk and damages the Grade II listed cave system of national significance.”
Heritage England has also objected to the proposal, saying: “The proposed demolition and replacement of the extant buildings designed in the late 1930s in an art deco style will comprise harm to the significance of key nearby listed buildings through loss to their historic streetscape setting and relative status, and through loss to the overall character of the Arboretum Conservation Area.”
Vita’s proposed PBSA site is adjacent to the ACA.
Objections have also been raised on the height of the proposed eight-to-13-storey buildings.
If the scheme is approved, Vita Student would operate 512 studio rooms, with the company’s House of Social platform overseeing 454 cluster apartments.
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