A Newcastle developer has submitted plans to transform a historic building into a luxury aparthotel with a glass lift and rooftop gardens.
The Malhotra Group bought 1 Mosely Street a year ago, triggering plans to convert the building into an aparthotel to complement its nearby Grey Street Hotel.
The building has been used for offices for the GMB Union for many years, and the neighbouring plot on Pilgrim Street is an empty void, partly hidden with hoardings.
Now, however, the leisure, care and property group is forging ahead with plans to develop the site, estimating it will spend £7m on turning the building into a number of serviced apartments, three upmarket bars and a boutique.
The empty void next to its Pilgrim Street wall and the neighbouring property would be filled with a glass lift, which aparthotel guests can take to the rooftop terrace and bar, with views looking out over the city and the Tyne.
The Malhotra Group has enlisted Space Architects to apply for planning permission and change of use of the office building, submitting a series of heritage, planning and design documents as well as detailed drawings showing how internal alterations would be made to remove modern additions, including partition walls, and how the plans fit in well with local and national planning policies.
The scheme would create serviced apartments on the upper levels, plus bars in the basement, ground and roof top levels, and 19 apartments are planned.
The document says: “In our opinion the lack of a building and presence of a ‘temporary hoarding’ on 120-126 Pilgrim Street, has a negative impact on both the setting of the listed building of 1 Mosley Street and also 118 Yorkshire Chambers to the north.
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“Therefore, we believe the reinstatement of a built form on this site, which responds to the adjacent buildings in terms of windows, roof lines & cornice levels etc, will actually enhance the setting of the listed buildings and link 1 Mosley Street back into the streetscape of Pilgrim Street.”
The planning statement concludes: “The proposals for the infill site of 120-126 Pilgrim Street look to provide a ‘fine individual building in its own right’, whilst also respecting the adjacent buildings in terms of scale, massing, materiality and taking cues from the existing proportions and alignment of architectural features.
“The new building will help provide a connection and re-establish a continuous streetscape to the west side of lower Pilgrim Street.”