In order to secure the consent required to allow Busy Bees to acquire the Grade II Listed Building, St Marylebone Grammar School, Planning Potential and Heritage Potential collaborated to secure the change of use and consent for internal works to allow a nursery school to successfully operate from the property.
In order to secure the consent required to allow Busy Bees to acquire the Grade II Listed Building, St Marylebone Grammar School, Planning Potential and Heritage Potential collaborated to secure the change of use and consent for internal works to allow a nursery school to successfully operate from the property.
The existing use was a school which falls into a different use class to the proposed use, a pre-school nursery. However, both uses shared many characteristics. It was agreed there would be no highways nor impact on neighbouring amenity. The proposed change of use also enabled numerous benefits in terms of sustainable design measures to be introduced, incorporating urban greening and biodiversity features. The supporting documents prepared and collated by Planning Potential for this change of use application guided development and ensured that the scheme was fully acceptable and policy compliant. Following a year of vacancy, the scheme represented an appropriate opportunity to facilitate the positive reuse of the listed building as a new community asset.
Given the building’s Grade II listing and obvious architectural and historical significance both externally and internally, Heritage Potential engaged officers in a pre-application process at an early stage to discuss the proposed works associated with the change of use. This positive and pro-active engagement allowed for necessary design alterations to be made at the earliest stage, allowing for a smooth application LBC process. The approved works included new partitions, the reordering of elements of the plan form, and even a slide connecting the nursery to the garden.
Summary of achievements
- Preparation, submission and monitoring of planning and listed building applications
- Liaison with specialist consultants to address consultee feedback
- Establishing a good relationship with council officers, to enable the application to be dealt with via delegated powers