The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Civic trust objects to plan for flats
An architecture watchdog has objected to plans to build a new block of student flats in Inverness saying the designs are not ambitious enough for the city centre.
Inverness Properties has lodged a proposal to build a four-floor block in Rose Street which would accommodate up to 100 students. The development would also include shops and a restaurant on the ground floor.
However, Inverness Civic Trust has objected to the plans, branding the design “unsophisticated and repetitive”.
Trust chairman, James Maxwell, said they support the principle of student accommodation on the site, but are concerned the plans do not match their ambition “to improve the architecture and environment of Inverness”.
He added: “It is crucially important that the council upholds its stated objective for a fine architectural solution to this site.
“The trust considers that the design fails to adequately address the opportunities of plan form and variety. The design is unsophisticated and repetitive.” A previous application by Inverness Properties to build three blocks of flats on the same site was refused by councillors last year because of concerns that one building would be eight stories high.
The developer appealed the decision but a Scottish Government reporter rejected the plans.
The same developer recently started work on another six-storey block given permission in 2012.