Plans have been submitted for a build-to-rent development containing around 252 apartments beside Nottingham railway station.
The proposed development would be built on a 0.53-hectare site at the eastern end of Station Street, close to its junction with London Road.
A full planning application has been prepared by Blocwork, a joint venture between railway property company Platform 4 and developer bloc. The apartments would be managed as rented homes by Grainger plc.
The scheme would include associated landscaping, car and cycle parking and a new vehicle access from Station Street.
The development site extends for approximately 143 metres along the northern edge of the railway and is up to 56 metres wide.
It is currently largely unoccupied but contains parking used by Nottingham Emergency Medical Services, several small Network Rail facilities and an above-ground district heating pipe close to the site boundary.
The submitted design statement identifies the heating pipe as one of the constraints that has influenced the scheme’s layout. Full details of how the infrastructure would be accommodated are included elsewhere within the wider application documents.
The homes would be provided through the build-to-rent model, meaning the apartments would remain under single ownership and be rented rather than sold individually.
The applicant says the development would include shared facilities and amenity space for residents, with the building managed by an on-site team. Precise details of the proposed apartment mix, building height, parking provision and communal facilities are contained in later parts of the application documents.
The site occupies a prominent position between Nottingham station and London Road. The two-storey red-brick NEMS building, which was previously part of the collection of Victorian buildings serving the railway station, stands immediately to the west.
Leonardo Hotel and the Waterfront House office building are to the north, while the railway station is immediately to the south. The Island Quarter regeneration site lies on the opposite side of London Road Bridge.
The proposal forms part of a wider period of residential development around Nottingham station.
Several large apartment schemes have been built along Queens Road to the south of the railway in recent years, including The Barnum. That development was also delivered by Blocwork and is operated by Grainger.
Station Street itself has undergone substantial changes during the past decade, including the redevelopment of Nottingham station, the opening of the new bus station and the construction of new offices, hotels and student accommodation.
The Station Street site falls within the Station Conservation Area. The design statement says the proposals have been developed to take account of the surrounding historic and modern buildings and the site’s position near one of the main approaches to the city centre.
The applicant has held several rounds of pre-application discussions with Nottingham City Council’s planning department. The plans have also been considered at two design review panel presentations and amended during a series of pre-application submissions.
Those discussions do not amount to planning permission or guarantee that the scheme will be approved. The full application will now need to be assessed by Nottingham City Council, including its effects on the conservation area, highways, neighbouring properties and local infrastructure.
No decision has yet been made on whether the development can go ahead.
