Plans revealed to turn canalside leisure venue into flats

A public consultation on new plans for the conversion of Nottingham’s British Waterways Building from leisure to residential use are being launched today (September 20).

The British Waterways Building is a prominent Grade 2 listed building located immediately adjacent to the Nottingham Canal within the Castle Wharf area of the city centre. It was originally built in 1919 for the storage and loading of goods and materials onto canal barges for transportation across the country.

More recently, the building was converted for leisure use as part of the 1996 Castle Wharf development. However, since that time there have been few occupiers with a significant area of the building having remained vacant over recent years.

With a pattern of under-use in modern times, H2O Urban – a partnership between the building owner the Canal & River Trust and specialist partnership developer bloc group – is bringing forward plans to convert the building to create new homes for the area. It is planning to create 95 new apartments to make full use of the space for the first time in decades.

The proposals have been designed to give a new lease of life to the building, with the exterior being preserved and historic internal features being refurbished and retained including a number of spiral staircases.

A new additional floor, designed to marry with the existing architecture, would be added on the roof, providing the scope to create eight apartments offering views across Nottingham.

Richard Thomas, bloc group development director, leading on the project for H2O Urban, said: “The British Waterways Building is a much-loved feature of Nottingham’s canal side area. It has played a key role in city life in the past and we want to see it do so again. H2O Urban’s plans would see the building fully utilised for the first time in many decades. This will help to preserve the building by giving it a long-term future while also adding a sense of safety and vibrancy to the canal side area.

“H2O Urban was setup in 2004 and has since delivered many successful developments at key locations along Canal & River Trusts canals. We are excited to be involved with this project and look forward to hearing people’s views.”

The three-week consultation opens today and runs until 5pm on Friday 8th October. The public can view the proposals and provide feedback via the consultation website at: www.britishwaterwaysbuilding.com

An enquiry email address is also available at info@britishwaterwaysbuilding.com