A planning application has been submitted to change the use of 48-50 and 51 Church Street and 1A Pole Street in Preston city centre.

The proposed plans are to convert the former Derby Court Hotel from three ground floor units (Public House Class A4, Hotel Class C1) to a total of six retail units and a restaurant (Retail Class A1, Cafe/Resturant Class A3, Public House Class A4, and Betting Office Sui Generis).

The development began in July 2019 on the first and second floor apartments and were stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. Internal alterations to the building resumed in March 2021, and the work has now almost been completed to the first and second floors.

The applicant now seeks to change the material on the front of the building from Corton Steel to Aluminium painted black.

In terms of use, the ground floor of the building is empty and has been left unused for over five years, it has been described as ‘fallen into disrepair and has become an eyesore along both Church Street and Pole Street.’

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Currently the ground floor internal work is still underway with the part removal of the existing timber shop frontage, doors and windows to the building along Church Street and Pole Street, and replaced with a contemporary aluminium clad façade.

This is to give a proposed modern design that would renovate the derelict front of the building which would contribute to enhancing the street scene by not looking out of place given its similarity with the refurbished buildings in the area as well as not having a detrimental impact on the Heritage Asset.

The proposed design to the ground floor façade that was approved under the previous application would have been similar to the former Preston Livery and Carriage Co Ltd building. It would have used Corten steel cladding to the front of the building and Anthracite grey aluminium windows and doors.

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However, on further investigation and using an example of the corten steel against the existing brick work, the applicant found that it did not match as expected, due to the brickwork of the hotel being of a dark brown colour as opposed to the rustic red brick work that has been used on the Preston Livery building.

The existing brickwork will be sandblasted and re-pointed and the first and second floor windows to the hotel have been replaced with Anthracite grey upvc windows.

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The design and access statement by Anyon Architectural and Planning Ltd on behalf of the applicant Lineneed Ltd said: “The modern design would also not look out of place given its similarity with the refurbished buildings in the area and would certainly not look out of place or be detrimental to the heritage asset.

“Furthermore, the new shop front cladding would be complimentary to the existing brick façade of the upper floors. In conclusion the proposed development would have an acceptable design and appearance in accordance with planning policy.”

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