Heritage building makes way for B&B
A new visitor accommodation in Cambridge has been given the tick of approval but comes with conditions to retain the development site’s heritage value.
Waipa District Council has approved resource consent for the 20-room bed and breakfast-style facility at 17 Hamilton Road.
The developer and consent holder, Windsor Trust, will now be permitted to demolish the existing category C heritage building on the site.
The heritage building was built in 1956 by Dutch immigrant and master builder George Veldwijk. The Californian ranchstyle home is said to be an example of Edwardian Architecture and urban modernism, according to reports on the building submitted to council in 2014.
The new two-storey facility in its place will have guest rooms capable of accommodating 42 guests with 25 car-parking spaces.
It will operate as a bed and breakfast and will not provide facilities or services for nonguests. A manager and another staff member will live on site.
A number of conditions have been placed on the consent.
Developers must permanently close the existing site entrance on Hamilton Road, leaving the only vehicle entrance to the site from Hall Street.
Guests must park within the site boundaries and no overflow parking is allowed on Hall Street.
There are also conditions to ensure noise limits are not exceeded and rules have been imposed around lighting, odour, smoke, fumes and dust.
A landscaping plan approved by the council must also be pro- vided.
As a part of its mitigation towards the historical site, the developers have been instructed to retain a portion of the existing brick and metal boundary fence adjacent to Hamilton Road and Hall Street.
This is to provide a remnant of the original brick work and a physical link to the site’s heritage. Interpretive signage, detailing the property’s history must be installed and maintained.
In the application for consent, the historical value of the property was discussed with the applicant agreeing to some mitigation work acknowledging its historical significance.
The Cambridge Heritage Committee did not submit any official comment on the consent application.
Windsor Trust had withdrawn an application for consent for the project in 2014 following amendments made to the original plan. The council received 32 submissions on the application.