New plan to turn city centre offices into flats

Plans have been drawn up turn an office block in Leicester city centre into homes.

Developer Dancap Waterloo wants to convert the seven-storey Arnhem House, in Waterloo Way, into 86 flats.

It has sought planning permission from Leicester City Council to change the use of the 1980s-built block from employment to residential.

The proposed flats are mainly one-bedroom properties.

The application follows a city council decision, in March, to reject a previous planning application for 91 flats in the building.

At the time planning officers described some of the proposed flats as "gloomy" and "bleak", the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

Under the latest plan, the top two floors of the building would not be used as accommodation.

The developer said they would instead be sealed off and "retained as sterile for the lifetime of the development".

It is a move the applicant says would make the development below the height where it would be classed as "high risk" and it would not have to adhere to tighter regulation on high rise buildings introduced in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster.

In planning documents the developer said all of the flats included in the latest plan would be compliant with daylight standards and include storage space.

The firm also said 42 parking spaces and 60 cycle spaces were proposed.

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