Preston's Winckley Square poised for new seven-storey apartment block

Preston City Council’s planning officers have recommended that members approve the blueprint for the seven-storey development, which would involve the demolition of a two-storey building that currently stands on the plot.

The 35-apartment scheme would feature a ground-floor gym and co-working space on the top floor, where there would also be access to a roof garden.

The existing structure - which provides storage space on its ground floor and a canteen above - is linked to a neighbouring office development to the rear of 33-34 Winckley Square via a footbridge, which would also be dismantled.

If given the go-ahead, the replacement building will contain 27 one-bedroomed properties, with the remainder offering two bedrooms - one of which will be a duplex-style property.

The application site also includes an associated courtyard car park area, which has gated access from Mount Street, where five parking spaces are proposed, including one with an electric charging point. There would also be storage space for 35 bicycles.

Since the application was originally submitted, the design and scale of the proposed building has been amended. Although it remains seven storeys tall, the overall height has been reduced by 1.4 metres.

To reduce its impact, the top three floors have been set back from the south elevation and the top two also set in from the side of the building facing Mount Street.

Officers have concluded that the proposal will not affect the setting of the surrounding Grade-II listed buildings in the square, nor the former St Joseph’s Orphanage on Theatre Street.

It has also been deemed that it would cause only a “low level of less-than-substantial harm” to the character of the Winckley Square Conservation Area in which the new building would sit.