Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Plan for student flats given the green light
A BID to build 55 student flats on land next to former record store Groucho’s has been approved.
The building will be on a vacant brownfield site at the corner of the Nethergate and West Marketgait and includes two retail units.
It is connected to a wider development comprising of a new multi-million-pound BT call centre housing 1,000 staff that will be adjacent to the flats.
Construction will start shortly – to tie in with the construction of the BT office – and will be completed in 2023.
A previous plan to build 16 mainly two-bedroom flats was previously approved, but the developers now have permission to create 55 studio apartments instead.
The Crucible Developments project is designed to meet housing demand for students at the city’s two universities.
A spokesman said: “Crucible Developments is delighted to receive planning consent for the development on the corner of Nethergate and West Marketgait which completes our proposals for our Greenmarket development.”
A planning statement submitted by Savills on behalf of the firm says the plan will “enhance” the wider £1 billion waterfront development.
It states: “Overall, the proposals would make a positive contribution to the ongoing regeneration of the wider area, delivering high-quality purpose-built student accommodation, with groundfloor commercial space by utilising a prominent brownfield gateway site which is highly accessible to a range of users.”
Drawings by architects HAUS show how the four-storey block could look.
The site has been the subject of numerous plans in the past, including a hotel, offices, a bar and a cinema – but none of these developments have come to fruition.
Groucho’s record store was once such a popular business it became a tourist attraction in its own right, with lovers of vinyl travelling from across the UK to flick through the huge collection amassed over several decades by owner Alastair “Breeks” Brodie.
It was a favourite of The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green and Lenny Henry.
The shop shut in 2019 when Mr Brodie died, and despite plans to resurrect it as a bar/restaurant, it remains shuttered.