Plymouth鈥檚 towering Civic Centre building could be reinvented as a major conference centre with flats above designed to be rented by the day, as part of a bold plan to reinvigorate the city centre.
Urban Splash, the Manchester-based development firm which bought the city centre tower for 拢1 in 2016, will ask for a variation to its planning consent, dropping the idea of using the lower floors for shops, cafes, restaurants, bars, and hot food takeaways in favour of creating an 鈥渋nternational conference centre鈥.
The plan, being worked on in partnership with the University of Plymouth, would see creation of a conference space that could hold up to 700 people.
The declining fortunes of high street retail and leisure are being seen as a key reason for the change, with new ways of enticing people into the city centre being explored.
Urban Splash will also look to create flexible office space on the lower floors on the Royal Parade side of the block.
But they would retain the plan to contain 144 flats on the upper 12-storeys, though these will only be for rent, not sale, on very flexible terms which could see them hired by the day, in some cases.
Again, the revised plan, if approved, would be a radical attempt to bring people into the city centre, to live or stay, even for a short period.
Plymouth currently has only 2,000 city centre residents, whereas Manchester, which had the same number 25 years ago, now has 60,000.
Urban Splash wants to start construction work on the Civic Centre as early as 2021, and could have the entire building transformed in two years.
Along with Plymouth City Council, Urban Splash has bid for 拢17million from the Government鈥檚 Future High Streets Fund.
Urban Splash in the news
This cash would be split between the redevelopment of the Civic Centre, into what will be renamed The Civic, and a major upgrade of Plymouth Guildhall, just opposite the skyscraper, into another conference and events centre, also usable as a weddings and graduations location, and even doubling as a music venue too.
The partners will hear if their bid to the fund is successful in April 2021, and, if it is, work would begin pronto.
Even if the bid fails, Urban Splash, which has successfully regenerated Plymouth鈥檚 historic Royal William Yard, says it wants to continue with redevelopment of the Civic Centre, estimated previously as a 拢40million project, and would explore other funding options.
James Couth. Manchester-based development manager at Urban Splash, said: 鈥淲e want to revitalise that area of the city centre, to act as a catalyst for renewed confidence.
鈥淭he intention is to start building next year. We would do it all at once, we wouldn鈥檛 phase it. The current estimate is about two years.鈥
He said twin plans for the Civic Centre and Guildhall would create a venue for large conferences, community use and entertainment, also generating 鈥渘ight time activity鈥 in the area.
The Civic would contain an approximately 40,000sq ft conference facility spread over the basement, ground- and first-floor, next to 20,000sq ft of work space.
The Civic and Guildhall could work together as an attraction and Mr Couth said: 鈥淭here is demand for a conference centre in Plymouth. The advice we have had is that once the conference centre is up and running it would bring about 50,000 people into the city centre every year. That鈥檚 positive activity.鈥
He added: 鈥淭he high street is heading this way anyway. People are moving away from physical space to buy items, more people are shopping online. Where high streets are dominated by retail they have been hit the hardest.
鈥淭he future of the high street will be more of a mix, more about experiences, with some retail, but also with leisure, health and well-being, community uses, all those things together. And residential too.
鈥淭here is not a lot of residential development within Plymouth city centre, it鈥檚 all focussed to take advantage of coastal views.
鈥淚n Manchester, if you compare it to 25 years ago, we had a similar sized city centre to Plymouth鈥檚, about 2,000 people. Now Manchester city centre has 60,000 people.
鈥淭hat has had a positive impact on the city centre, with more business during the day and activity at night, and a nicer environment.
How to contact William Telford and Business Live
Business Live's South West Business Reporter is William Telford. William has more than a decade's experience reporting on the business scene in Plymouth and the South West. He is based in Plymouth but covers the entire region.
To contact William: Email: william.telford@reachplc.com - Phone: 01752 293116 - Mob: 07584 594052 - Twitter: - LinkedIn: - Facebook:
Stay in touch: BusinessLive newsletters have been re-designed to make them even better. We send morning bulletins straight to your inbox on the latest news, views and opinion in the South West. Get our breaking news alerts and weekly sector reviews too. Sign up now - it's free and it only takes a minute. To sign up for Business Live's daily newsletters click .
And visit the Business Live South West LinkedIn page
鈥淏y building residential in the city centre it will bring people into the city centre to live, and encourage other developers and investors to deliver more.
鈥淭he flats (in the Civic) will be flexible in terms of people renting them. The idea is to have people renting a flat for anything from one day to five years, or anything in between.
鈥淪o if people could not find a hotel space they could stay in an apartment for however long they are there. It鈥檚 build to rent, the apartments would not be on the open market for sale.鈥
Mr Couth said Urban Splash had been 鈥渆xploring other avenues of funding鈥 should the Future High Street Fund tilt fail. But the company is quietly confident the bid will succeed.
鈥淲e will carry that process on,鈥 Mr Couth said. 鈥淏ut we are in a good position with deliverablity. And the partnership between the council, private developer and the university, the Government likes that.鈥
