Plan to turn Bradford city centre office block into flats
Plans have been revealed to convert 1 Godwin Street – part of the £45m Southgate development that was completed in 2010 – from offices into residential space.
A LANDMARK office building in Bradford, once seen as a key part of the city centre’s regeneration, could soon be converted into over 100 flats.
Plans have been revealed to convert 1 Godwin Street – part of the £45m Southgate development that was completed in 2010 – from offices into residential space.
The eight-storey building, opposite City Park and just yards from the Bradford Live music venue, is currently headquarters for Bradford based Vanquis Banking Group (formerly Provident), one of the city’s biggest employers.
The company has revealed it intends to relocate to the neighbouring building, 5 Godwin Street, into office space that was until recently the Bradford office of PriceWaterhouseCooper.
They say the business “remains fully committed to Bradford.”
The applicants for the residential scheme, US based ARC PFBFDUK001, LLC, hope to make the changes to the prominent building without the need for planning permission.
An application submitted to Bradford Council this week advises the authority that the Delaware company plans to use the “permitted development” system – which allows developers to convert office space into flats without planning permission.
The only way councils can block such changes are if they believe they will cause major highways, safety or environmental health concerns.
The changes would see the upper floors of the building converted into a mix of one, two and three bed homes and the ground floor will be split to create two new commercial units.
Located in an area of the city centre that also includes City Park, Bradford Live and the Alhambra, 1 Godwin Street is one of the city’s most recognisable buildings, and was seen as a major step forward for Bradford when it was first revealed.
The £50m Southgate scheme was proposed in the late 00s as a major city centre regeneration project.
It would involve the replacement of a vacant city centre site with the new headquarters for Provident, the company that eventually became Vanquis, and a 200 bed hotel (now Leonardo Hotel and unaffected by this application).
When the project ran into financial difficulty, Bradford Council provided a £6m loan to the developers to make sure the development went ahead.
The loan was paid back with interest over an 11-month period.
In 2009 the Council praised the privately funded scheme as a project that “will provide a major boost to the city and district.”
As part of the proposed residential scheme, Vanquis will move into office space between 1 Godwin Street and Sunwin House.
This space belongs to the company and was the Bradford base for PriceWaterhouseCooper until earlier this year when PWC moved into nearby One City Park as the anchor tenant.
The application for 1 Godwin Street says: “The site is extremely well located with the town centre, and is adjacent to some key regeneration developments for the recent past.”
Each floor will have a number of rooms classed as “amenity space” and the application says: “This space can be developed to suit the user requirements to provide lounges, private dining spaces, workspace, gym etc.”
It adds: “The proposal will result in new homes, assisting Bradford Council in meeting their identified need for housing on a sustainably and accessibly located site.”
The application says that despite being in the city centre, there are no “unneighbourly uses” near the building that would “cause any material detriment” to future residents.
It adds: “Consideration has been given to the potential impact of the Bradford Live development with regards to the noise assessment that was undertaken to accompany the planning application for the proposed events venue.
“It is noted however that there is no existing operator for the venue with the NEC Group’s withdrawal.”
Suggesting the music venue will have little impact on future residents, it says the planning application for Bradford Live included a report on how noise from the venue would impact several neighbouring buildings, including 1 Godwin Street.
When asked about what the residential conversion would mean for the company’s future in Bradford, a spokesperson for Vanquis told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Vanquis remains fully committed to Bradford.
“As part of our property strategy to enhance the working environment for our colleagues, we are relocating from No. 1 Godwin Street to No. 5 Godwin Street. We are also proud to be a major partner of Bradford 2025 City of Culture, supporting the city’s vibrant cultural and economic growth in the year ahead.”
Bradford Council is due to decide whether the scheme can progress by the end of next month.