NEW CHAPTER FOR OLD LIBRARY
Plans for 36 apartments and retail space
A TOWN centre’s former library is set to be transformed into 36 apartments and two new restaurant or retail outlets.
It would see the 1960s brutaliststyle building in Newcastle partly demolished and partly extended, with a new brick frontage onto the Ironmarket.
But the block, which would have five storeys and an underground car park, would be significantly taller than the old library and neighbouring buildings.
The plans also including forming a second floor link to the former police station in Merrial Street, which backs onto the site and is owned by the same company. The station is now used as office space and will soon have a gym in its basement, which could potentially be accessed by the flat tenants.
Applicant, the Drayton Beaumont Group Ltd, has submitted a ‘change of use’ application to Newcastle Borough Council for the latest development.
The building has lain empty since 2017, when the library transferred to the new £15.4 million civic offices, Castle House. It was bought by Beaumont last year.
A planning statement, drawn up by Knights PLC, said: “The development would bring a vacant building in a conservation area back into use and, in doing so, provide an improvement to the wider area.”
The proposed conversion would see the ground floor devoted to commercial space. Suggested uses include a new restaurant, coffee shop or retail offer. As the building would have a glazed canopy, there could be al fresco dining.
On the upper floors there would be the flats, which would be rented out rather than sold on. The plans include 24 one-bed apartments and 12 twobed flats.
And the basement would be turned into the underground car park, with 21 parking spaces and secure bike storage.
Although it is set to be higher than the current four-storey building, the developers claim it would fit in with the wider town centre area.
The Ironmarket is a mix of Georgian, Medieval and modern properties. The design of the proposed new building includes windows of Georgian proportions.
The frontage would also be subtly divided visually into three sections, with different shades of brickwork, to help it blend in with other properties in the shopping street.
The council’s economic regeneration team said the new apartment block could ‘enliven the town and bring greater footfall’.
It would also bring the town centre site full circle as it was first used for residential accommodation back in 1724, when it was known as Arlington House. The impressive home, which was set in its own gardens, was later demolished.
The replacement building was rather grander – Newcastle Municipal Hall was built in 1890 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee.
But that was also controversially knocked down in 1967 and was replaced with the town’s library.
A decision on the planning application for its latest incarnation will be decided in the
coming weeks.