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Statement on support of a Planning Application for Proposed Redevelopment of the 1, 1A & 2 Marina Road, Douglas Isle of man.
September 2021
The site is located at the corner of Marina Road and Senna Road, at the Northern end of Castle Street, which is a northerly extension of Strand Street, the main retail centre of Douglas.
The street is pedestrianised and has recently benefitted from the town centre regeneration scheme, with regards to street lighting, furniture and the hard surfacing for the paving.
The site is currently occupied by a traditional style building over 3 floors. The site covers units 1 and 1A – which is currently an electrical gadget shop (FAZE 2) and number 2, currently a fast foot outlet (Best Kebab). The designated use is retail / fast food at the ground / street level and residential over. The property has shop frontage to Marina Road at the ground level, with painted render finish to the upper levels. The roof has a slate covering. The side elevation to Senna Road has a painted render finish. The rear of the property is partly rendered, partly exposed stone to the rear of No 2, and there appears to have previously been a property linked to the rear facing Senna Road.
This building has been removed to allow for the replacement building across the rear access passage / lane. The former gable and chimney stack remain evident when viewed behind / above. See below a photograph form the upper level of the Chester Street car park.
The building recently acquired by the applicant is tired and need of considerable attention hence the applicant’s proposal to redevelop.
The properties are served by a narrow access lane to the rear. This lane also serves the properties that face Market Street to the rear. The lane is not owned by the applicant, but the site has rights of access over it. This access must be maintained for all adjacent property users.
The site sits at the Northern end of the main retail area of Douglas. The properties immediately to the south arrange from those offering electrical repairs, Food outlet – both take away & sit in, slightly further beyond selling fresh fish, and books. The Tower House redevelopment, also offering mixed uses of retail, commercial and office spaces sit diagonally opposite the site. Directly opposite is a food / drinks outlet with the rear of the Falcon apartments adjacent to that. In the northerly direction there are further mixed-use retail outlets, ranging from Hair and beauty, Fast food, Barbers and the public House, Samuel Webbs at the end.
Further beyond to the North, is the soon to be completed promenade refurbishment, that has relocated the pedestrian access to continue the street northerly, to the “cultural area” in front of the Sefton, Gaiety Cinema and Villa complex.
The building styles are mixed and extend to 3 and 4 stories. The buildings mentioned further North are more prominent rising to 5 or 6 floors. The finishes are largely traditional at upper levels with painted render with the typical arrangement of windows aligned, that diminish in their height as they rise up the building. The low-level finish is a varied mix of shopfront styles and colours, as would be expected in the main retail area.
The site falls outside of the conservation area, however, is looking into it. The site is very accessible from the main pedestrian thoroughfare, the promenade and Market Street via Senna Road. There are good links to existing transport services – both busses and horse drawn on the promenade, as well as the cycle links from the promenade. The site is only a 10-minute walk from the main commercial centre considered to be at Prospect Hill / Athol Street. Chester Street car park is to the west, which is understood to offer not only public parking, but also contract parking for other business and residents in the vicinity (and wider beyond). Refer to the site context plan for further details.
Previous planning (according to the online Planning search on the IoM Government website) Numbers 1 and 1A on the corner have no recorded planning history. Number 2 – The fast food outlet has 8 previous planning matters, including: -
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Obviously these all relate to the current us of No 2 – which will become obsolete should this application be approved.
Pre application consultations have taken place with the Planning department and the Borough of Douglas, both the Waste services department and the department responsible for the street lighting and IT (CCTV) in the area.
The applicant, we and Mr. Jason Singleton of the Planning department met (22/07/2021) at and in the proximity of the site.
Prior to the meeting proposal drawings had been sent for initial consideration. Mr. Singleton advised that there was an overall support of the principal of redevelopment. Further consideration regards the design and the materials were matters raised, and further discussed at the meeting.
Since that meeting the proposals have been further developed to incorporate comments raised, and now form the proposals within the submission.
Whilst direct consultation has not taken place with DoI highways, we have applied the similar principals with regards town centre redevelopment and noted the contents of a recent similar application for residential use at the upper levels. This application
(20/00401/B) was in Castle Street, and for tourism use, but it should be noted for a much greater number of units. To that end Cycle parking has been incorporated to serve both the retail and residential elements of the proposal.
Included within the application is a context plan that identifies the proximity to amenity and services, commercial centre (employment) and links to public transport, the cycle routes, which are being promoted as being included as part of the wider promenade works and active travel strategy.
Initial proposals were sent to Mr Steve Salter for consideration. Referring to the precedent being set by the similar application in the vicinity referred to above, allowance has been made for the storage within the site for waste and recycling for both the commercial and domestic occupants.
The storage takes the form of 2 x 1100 litre storage euro bins. (1 x domestic and 1 x retail), housed within an externally accessible store. The proposal would be to include recycling bins, within racks also in the storage area. The external storage area would be externally accessible and secured with accessing gained only be the building occupants.
Recycling storage is provided within the kitchen design of the residential use and an area within the retail unit. The exact details of this are yet to be finalized, as this will be dependent on the end user. The proposed drawings identify the bin store area in greater detail showing provision.
Directly adjacent the proposed application site in Marina Road are Street lighting columns. These also carry the cabling for the erection of the Christmas Lighting display and some of the columns in the Street are also equipped with CCTV. The column at the corner of Marina Senna Road is one fitted with CCTV. Douglas Borough have been consulted with regards the protection / short term removal of these and also the relocation of the CCTV. A response is awaited but the proposal would wish for the CCTV to be relocated from its current position subject to the relevant agreements.
The overall design proposal / brief was to provide modern, quality commercial / retail space with private residential space over.
The application seeks approval for commercial retail space of no specific classification so that the end use is open to the market requirements prevalent at the time of completion. The design of this space is proposed to be modern and light, to attract a solid / long term end user. Previously the building housed 2 units, but after research the brief was defined as one larger unit. A good example of this is found at 55-57 Duke Street (PA 09/01864/B and 13/00545/B).
The proposal includes a basement, which would be accessed from within the main unit. The internal layout is not yet determined, with a view to offering a flexible plan – that can be adapted to suit an end user. The layout would be arranged to incorporate a kitchen & disabled WC facility should it become a café / restaurant. There would also be areas for food preparation and storage, again arranged for a particular end user if required.
The frontage of the proposal is predominantly aluminium framed glazed wrapping around the corner of Marina Road and Senna Road maximizing the visibility for the business that would eventually occupy the unit. Signage would be included above the glazed shopfront as is commonplace along both Castle Street and Strand Street.
The Marina road elevation is proposed to include Masonry piers where the structure occurs. These are proposed to be a textured / roughcast facing brick. Which extends around the side to Senna Road and to the Lift Shaft at the corner of the building. Facing brickwork is maintenance free and hardwearing and is a common feature in the vicinity, including on the building directly adjacent on Senna Road. Facing Brick also features heavily along Market street to the rear, on both sides of the road, and on the Strand Shopping centre at the Junction of Castle Street and Strand Street.
The proposal includes the provision of 5 residential units over 3 upper floors. The building includes a lift to ensure accessibility for all. The proposal is for 2 smaller units at the first and second floor (4 units) with a larger unit extending to the full width of the plot at third (top) floor.
All apartments are provided with a primary outlook that whilst restricted by the width of the main street, the inclusion of Oriel style widows provides further reaching views North to the nearing completion cultural area of the promenade and south into Castle Street. These outlooks are typical of town centre developments and ultimately prospective occupants will be aware of this. The apartment will be fitted with high quality modern kitchens and bathrooms and will be attractive to both the purchase and rental market. Note that one of the oriel windows will have blank panels to prevent overlooking from 1 apartment to another.
Externally the upper levels are proposed to be clad in a mix of Aluminium cladding panel and Timber cladding. The timber cladding is intended to provide a focal point to the corner – above the shopfront and under the proposed Balcony to the top floor apartment. The timber is proposed to be a Cedar or similar that will be self-weathering and low maintenance.
The main body of the upper level is proposed to be clad in Aluminum panel again self-finished and low maintenance. It will have a low reflective value so as not to generate unwanted glare to adjacent properties. Whilst this material is less common in the immediate vicinity of the proposal is intended to provide modern visual interest and stand out as a new development, that would seek to encourage further investment in the area. This continues to the roof level, where the building is proposed to be topped with a Green roof. This is proposed to be sedum planted and be again self-maintaining. The trim to the edge of the roof, windows and the exposed feature column will be a coordinated dark gray.
The Windows Juliet balcony doors will be dark gray aluminium, and the guarding to the Juliet doors and the upper level balcony would be glass.
An area of the roof will be given over to mechanical plant required to serve the building. It is proposed that the building will have Air source heat pumps and potentially Solar / PV panels to
ensure that the building is as “green” as possible. Final details are to be resolved, but will be appropriate to the buildings use, occupancy and exceed the “standard” at the time of building control submission. Access to the roof and plant area will be via a roof dome access point, from the upper most landing. A low-level restraint wire safety system will be included for safe access for maintenance purposes.
The application seeks approval to redevelop a run-down corner site at the northern end of the main retail area of Douglas. The realigned pedestrian route encourages access by foot and this proposal sits close to the Cultural area of the redeveloped promenade.
The proposal is modern in its form with the use of contemporary and more traditional materials. The overall effect of this mix results in an interesting building that will stand out as a possible future landmark, at the northern end of the pedestrianised street.
High quality retail / commercial and much needed residential spaces are provided in a central and convenient location, situated close to amenities, services employment areas and transport links.
We hope the proposal gains the support of the Planning Authority, allowing this proposed redevelopment to contribute to the continued regeneration of the town centre.
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