Abandoned Mansfield town centre offices to become 30 apartments

The top floors of Ashmead Chambers, in Regent Street in the town centre, were once home to students at West Nottinghamshire College, but have been vacant for more than 10 years.

Its ground floors are still occupied by commercial retailers such as the Mark Leeson hairdressers, Regency Cleaners and the British Heart Foundation.

Now, permission has been granted for local developer Jack Townsend to put 10 one-bedroom apartments on each of the three upper sections of the building.

Mr Townsend was responsible for the redevelopment of the old Dial pub in the Market Place, and told members of Mansfield Council’s planning committee on Tuesday, May 26, that demand for single-bedroom flats in Mansfield is ‘crazy’.

He said: “I have a lettings agency in Mansfield and the demand for single-person, one-bedroom flats in Mansfield is crazy.

"It’s the easiest thing to let in our agency.

"If we have a one-bedroom flat it’s gone straight away.

“I’m very proud to be developing my town centre.

"I think this is a fantastic opportunity to bring Mansfield town centre back to life, to boost the economy and to have blue collar workers working in Mansfield – it’d be an honour to do it.”

He added that the average occupier of the flats will likely be between the ages of 21 and 35-years-old and could be expected to be employed locally at somewhere like Sports Direct or Amazon.

The partially-empty building has been subject to arson incidents, windows being smashed and three break-ins over the past 10 months and Mr Townsend said it was ‘a mess inside’.

Planning officer Dan Galpin said that despite the proposal containing no plans for parking spaces for the 30 residents, highways authority Nottinghamshire Council had not objected due to the proximity of the development to major services.

There were concerns raised about the fact that all the proposed properties are one-bedroom flats when Mansfield’s local plan stipulates a desire for two-three bedroom properties if possible, but Mr Galpin said the town centre geography and site context made this acceptable.

He added that residents occupying the building could serve as a deterrent to anti-social behaviour and litter on the back alley to the rear of the property, Albert Court.

And he said that a noise assessment would be completed because of the building’s proximity to the Lexis nightclub and Rush bar on Clumber Street.

Supporting the proposal, Coun Angie Jackson (Lab) said: “I think although there are a few concerns about the flats being one-bedroom occupancy, the applicant has explained the nature of the people who are most likely to use these flats so that’s reassured me.

“Looking at pictures, particularly of the back of the building, I think this a great opportunity to see a really good development in an area that’s really badly neglected.

"I think it’s really important for the development of the town centre.”

Coun Anne Callaghan (Lab) agreed, saying: “It’s repurposing a building that looks shocking in our town centre.

"It will be bringing more footfall into our town centre, bringing regeneration and if it’s anything like some of the other developments that Mr Townsend has done it will be really, really good for our town.”

The building would only need minor changes externally to make it more suitable for residential use, with some changes to the windows and patterns of the windows.

A small number of the flats would be fitted with juliette balconies.

Coun Rich Tempest- Mitchell (Lab) said: “I echo what the other councillors have said already.

"That building’s probably about as old as me but it’s ugly, from the 1960s and it needs using because it’s going to go to rack and ruin, if not up in flames, properly at some point or other.

“The applicant has said that the people are going to be hard-working folk. It’s not one of those buildings that’s going to cause trouble.”