The developer has submitted a request to the Council for an environmental screening and scoping opinion, indicating plans to refurbish the Grade II-listed town hall building and to redevelop surrounding sites to provide 34,000 square metres of new commercial and residential floorspace.
The proposals include the demolition of the Hambrook House office building, currently the main office for the Council's housing service, and its replacement with a 14-storey building containing 94 apartments and 149 sq m of ground floor commercial space. A further 74 new flats have been proposed in a new seven-storey building at the site of the existing Olive Morris House.
The change of use of the Council's Ivor House office building would provide the final 26 proposed homes, along with further space for commercial use. The redevelopment would also include a new six-storey building on Town Hall Parade, providing more than 11,000 sq m of space for use as the Council's civic offices.
Muse was chosen as the Council's preferred developer for the area in April, following a Europe-wide tender process. The developer said in April that it expected to submit a planning application for the redevelopment in January 2015 and hoped to start work in summer 2015.
