Phased development of south Dorset’s first open-market build-to-rent residential scheme has reached a significant milestone on a landmark site in Dorchester after permitted development rights were confirmed.
RTI Estates Ltd is set to add another phase in the conversion of offices at Vespasian House at the top o’ town into 37 apartments for up to 144 people adding £11m to this phased project.
The company – part of the forward-thinking Dorchester-based property company Redtale Holdings – will deliver a mixture of one, two and three bed flats including penthouse apartments in what is currently the loft.
It has received notification from Dorset Council of its right to convert the entire building and loft of Vespasian House under permitted development rights, where the change of use is already acceptable in principle. It also has received ‘right to rise’ confirmation for the loft of the property in the county town.
The development will repurpose an iconic building in a brownfield and highly sustainable location as part of RTI’s ongoing regeneration of the county town’s historic Barrack Quarter.
RTI, which owns the freehold of the office complex and surrounding land, has opted for a build-to-rent (BTR) development to provide high-quality, flexible short and long-term secure accommodation.
BTR is purpose-built housing designed for rent rather than sale. Homes are not sold to investment owners or buy-to-let landlords for traditional open market rental but are owned and managed by the developer or operator.
Schemes of this kind typically offer flexible leases from six months up to five years to provide families and workers with modern sustainable homes as well as secure tenures not normally associated with the rental sector. Many schemes also include a range of services and additional space, such as communal lounges or gyms.
The plans to breathe new life into Vespasian House comes as NHS organisations based in the building consider alternative arrangements to co-locate with local partners.
Chief executive Malcolm Curtis said: “Confirmation of permitted development rights marks another major milestone in this project.
“It will be the first build-to-rent scheme in south of Dorset, and possible the whole of the west of the county, enhancing the mix of housing stock and helping to combat the chronic under-supply of rental homes in the area.
“In addition to securing the long-term future of an iconic building, it also represents development of an important brownfield site in a highly sustainable location close to the nearby hospital, transport links and all the town centre amenities.
“Providing new, high-quality accommodation of this kind for families, workers and professionals will support the growth of Dorchester and its local economy while supporting public services and bringing millions of pounds of investment to the area.
“The scheme will meet, or exceed, the required building and sustainability standards, and we very much look forward to sharing more details in due course.”
Vespasian House is currently being used as offices by the NHS and was previously occupied by the Inland Revenue.
Its conversion will include parking. RTI also has a keen focus on sustainability in the design, construction and use of all its developments, including low and zero carbon technologies.
The scheme is part of RTI’s urban regeneration of Dorchester’s historic Barrack Quarter at the top o’ town.
This has already included the build completion of a £2.4m development of Barrack House in the northwest corner of the site with nine key worker apartments let to NHS workers and their families.
It has also previously converted the former quartermaster’s stores into five townhouses and two apartments for open market sale.
In addition, RTI has previously gained planning consent for a residential extension to Vespasian House and a mixed-used building with apartments and commercial space. These plans are unaltered by these plans for further accommodation.
National permitted development policies – often known as ‘prior approval’ – for conversion of offices and other types of commercialproperties into homes were first introduced in 2013 and mean change of use is acceptable in principle.
Applications are required to meet certain criteria, which have been further eased since the pandemic and onset of remote and hybrid working as well as the decline of town centres.
According to latest figures from the House of Commons Library, a total of 102,830 new homes were delivered through change of use permitted development rights from 2015 to 2023 in England.
Visit https://redtalegroup.com/ for more details.
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