Plans to open a luxury aparthotel with a rooftop terrace in Newcastle city centre have taken a major step forward.
The Malhotra Group’s £7m vision for a huge restoration of a historic building next to the Swan House Roundabout has secured planning permission from council bosses.
Proposals to transform the former GMB union offices at the corner of Mosley Street and Pilgrim Street include 19 apartments, plus bars on the ground floor and roof terrace and a pavement cafe.
However, the developer has been forced into a significant redraw of its designs, amid fears that the project would “jar with the historic elegance of its neighbours”.
The original plans featured copper-coloured terracotta panels and a striking glass lift on the front of the building.
Both of those modern features have now been removed in favour of a more traditional sandstone development.
Granting planning permission for the site, Newcastle City Council planners said: “The main concerns to the initial design focussed on the impact of the proposed upwards projecting glass lift on the front elevation, the proportions and rhythm of the façade and materials proposed and the unsuitability of these within the immediate historic context of the site.
“Amendments have been made to the proposed design following negotiations between officers and the applicant on the issues.
“It is considered that the amended proposals successfully balance a bold, high quality design approach which is sympathetic to its listed neighbouring buildings, its historic, high quality context of Pilgrim Street and the Central conservation area.”
The lift up to the roof terrace has been relocated to the back of the building, with a staircase now instead visible through large windows facing Pilgrim Street.
One city resident commenting on the original plans told the council: “Good to see investment in the historic core, but the bright coloured panels on the new build jar with the historic elegance of its neighbours.”
The Newcastle and Northumberland Society agreed that the section of the plans with the glass lift and coloured panels, an infill of an empty void between the existing Pilgrim Street building and another property, was “unsatisfactory”.
The city council is yet to formally grant a premises licence for the new bars, but that is expected to be approved after Northumbria Police dropped their objections to the plans in January.
Malhotra had wanted the venue to stay open as late as 2.30am, but police say an earlier closing time has been offered.
