NEW LEASE OF LIFE FOR LONG-TERM VACANT GRADE II SHOP IN SANDWICH

Planning permission and listed building consent have been successfully secured by the Practice for the change of use and conversion of a Grade II listed shop in Sandwich, following the removal and replacement of the listed shopfront.

Alongside a local architects and heritage specialist, Hume Planning engaged in two rounds of pre-application engagement with Council Planning and Heritage Officers to inform the final proposals, which benefitted from the input of a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) and structural surveys to determine the heritage significance of the property and its condition. A key driver of the proposals was to reinstate the property to its original use as two townhouses, prior to its later 19th and 20th century conversions to use as a shop, relying upon the findings of the HIA to inform the final design proposals.

Critically, the LPA accepted the principle of the loss of the shop – which forms part the designated Secondary Shopping Frontage whereby alternative uses to retail are generally resisted – on the basis of genuine unsuccessful marketing attempts and the high cost of building improvements required to safeguard the heritage asset from further deterioration, meaning its commercial use was considered to be unviable.

The LPA concluded that finding the optimum viable use of the property, in this instance residential use, should be afforded significant weight as a means of safeguarding the heritage asset. Whilst the listed shopfront was also considered to form part of the property’s history, it was deemed to be of low historic and architectural value in its own right and its loss would equate to less than substantial harm. The replacement frontage was considered to provide an overall enhancement to the significance of the listed building.

Hume Planning are pleased to have been able to find a solution for a complex site and assist in safeguarding a valuable heritage asset.