Nottingham city councillors have approved an 18-storey tower block near the railway station after sending previous plans back to the drawing board over design concerns.
MRP Nottingham Ltd had initially asked to build a 22-storey block at the junction of Queen’s Road and London Road.
It was to go hand-in-hand with a 12-storey block, purpose-built for 406 students, before Nottingham City Council’s Planning Committee deferred the plans at a meeting in October 2022.
After making amendments, the developer resubmitted plans for the student block on its own.
Permission for the purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) block was granted in December 2023, and the scheme has since been built and is now in use.
Revised plans for the L-shaped residential building, which has sections varying in height between eight, nine and 18 storeys, were approved at a Planning Committee meeting on Wednesday (May 21).
Cllr Kevin Clarke (Nottm Ind) said: “Looking at the previous application, it is nice to hear the developers are actually listening to the committee, and in my opinion it is a vast improvement on the last scheme which had been a giant square block.
“It is a nice feature on the road.”
Cllr Graham Chapman (Lab) added: “We sent them away on phase one and they came back with a really nice scheme. This is an improvement.
“The city needs this sort of accommodation. I would hope we don’t end up, if it doesn’t work immediately, we put a load of students in.”
Cllr Chapman said he would like to see the top of the tower block redesigned, with different materials used to make it look less “top-heavy”.
The residential building will include co-living rental accommodation, with a total of 274 units featuring 424 rooms to rent.
The ground floor of the building will have co-working space, a café, and two meeting rooms served by a separate café and co-working entrance.
The eight-storey tower will feature a rooftop terrace, with a sky lounge on the top floor of the 18-storey tower.
The scheme is being part-funded by the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) through its brownfield housing development fund.
The developer had requested just over £4m to help fund the build, according to EMCCA figures.
However, the funding is yet to be confirmed, and financial contributions from the developer – to lessen the scheme’s impact on the area – cannot yet be worked out as a result.
This is known as a Section 106 agreement, and the developer has been asked to provide a contribution totalling over £4m.
However, an independent assessment says the scheme would not be financially viable if the developer were to provide the sum.
Plans had to be brought to the Planning Committee before the Section 106 money had been confirmed so that the developer could be successful in being given the funding, with a requirement that work begin next year.
Planning officer Rob Percival said: “If they are successful with the development fund, it then brings in the availability to provide a wider Section 106 contribution. The amount of that is the unknown question at this stage.”
Cllr Sam Lux (Lab) questioned what would happen if the developer is unsuccessful in obtaining the grant.
Mr Percival said while it is a question for the developer, it would be “likely in that situation we would not be able to achieve the Section 106.”
Final planning permission has been delegated to the director of planning, Paul Seddon, pending confirmation of the funding and finalised Section 106 contributions.
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