An appeal hearing over plans to turn part of Hamilton House into flats could take place next month.
The owners of the iconic building in Stokes Croft have appealed Bristol City Council’s refusal to approve their request to convert 27 units into living space.
Planning inspectors were originally due to consider the case at an informal hearing on May 5, but this was postponed because of the Covid-19 crisis.
Now a provisional replacement date of June 2 has been set.
An abandoned 1970s office block, Hamilton House has become a much-loved and well-used community and arts hub over the past decade.
The appeal relates to seven applications to reclassify the designated use of a total of 27 units from “class B1 (office)” to “dwellinghouse (Class C3)”.
Owners Connolly and Callaghan (C&C) lodged the applications after the council and a planning inspector blocked its plans to convert part of the premises into 45 flats.
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The council refused the new applications for the same reason the original application failed - because the units were not considered to be in lawful B1 office use.
This is a requirement for turning offices into flats under “permitted development” planning law.
The council’s development manager, Gary Collins, announced the revised date for the appeal hearing at a virtual planning meeting yesterday (May 13).
“I understand that’s very much a provisional date or a review date,” he told members of development control A committee at a videoconference on Zoom.
“I’m not aware of any specific arrangements [for the planning inspectorate] to have a virtual or remote hearing.”
Hamilton House comprises three buildings, one of which faces Stokes Croft and contains The Canteen bar.
The new applications affect the same two buildings as the original application - one on City Road that houses the Bristol Bike Project and the block behind it.
