Plans to redevelop a former school building at 203 Ilkeston Road, Nottingham, into student apartments have been granted conditional permission by the city council.
The proposals would provide 158 student beds, with indoor and outdoor communal amenities at ground level, including a landscaped garden. The rooms would be a mixture of studios and en-suite bedrooms with a cluster kitchen/living space.
A design statement submitted by Leonard Design Architects says: “The existing school building is of good quality with clear heritage and townscape value. Much of the street facing façades are of reasonable condition but are in need of repair.
“Meanwhile much of the character has been lost within the two courtyard spaces due to a series of 20th century additions including a large hall, which is proposed to be demolished and replaced with a new student accommodation block.
“The interior, however, is in a state of poor repair and is no longer fit for purpose for modern use. As such it is proposed that major refurbishment works will be undertaken to convert the building for use as student accommodation. Refurbishment will include performance upgrade to windows and insertion of new floors where appropriate.”
A new two storey gate house is also proposed along Stanfield Street, which will “define a new street scene and mark the entrance to the site.”
The student flats would be spread across the three buildings (the existing ex-school, the new build extension and the gate house).
The site is currently vacant, however it was originally used as a school and more recently was used by Nottingham City Council to house the Radford Unity Centre.