Bridging Finance News:-Iconic offices built in the 90s as headquarters for the Inland Revenue are to be transformed into 332 flats.
The current owners, Mapeley Estates, have gained permission from Nottingham city council to convert the buildings designed by award winning architect, Sir Michael Hopkins, into homes.
The Treasury sold the complex on sale and lease back following the merger of Inland Revenue with Customs and Excise in 2004.
The five office blocks at Castle Meadow Business Park, will be turned into 131 one-bed and 201 two-bed flats.
The £15m refurbishment is to include decorative landscaping with associated parking and landscaping. Rolfe Judd Planning and SGP are acting as architects for the project.
The 4,000 staff currently working for the HM Revenue and Customs are to move to offices in a development at Unity Square due to be completed by 2021 when the lease on Castle Meadows runs out.
Mapeley Estates is one of the largest commercial landlords in the UK, covering over 10m sq ft and was created in 1991 to provide outsourced management to the HMRC estate.
New homes needed to serve the city’s growing businesses
Brokers Hank Zarihs Associates said Nottingham was a sought after place to live with a strong economy so lenders would be keen to offer development and refurbishment finance to residential conversion projects.
Irwin Mitchell’s UK Powerhouse report, released in May 2019, cites Nottingham as the city with the fastest growing economy in the East Midlands. Its job growth has been stronger than Derby’s and Leicester’s thanks to robust manufacturing, logistics and financial sectors. The city is also known as a premier hub for the food and drinks industry.