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The application has been prepared and submitted on behalf of S.\& A.Consultants Ltd.., owners of the property, and owners of the adjoining section of Saddle Buildings fronting on to Parliament Street, Ramsey which operate as Feltons Ironmongers.
The proposal relates to renovation and improvement of the exiting Saddle Buildings premises fronting on to Market Place, Ramsey and the scheme seeks to use the Ground Floor area as a retail outlet (Class 1) together with upgrading and conversion of upper floors, First, Second and Roof Space, into five self-contained apartments.
The use of the building would be a mixed use development consistent with the current designation of the location in general and with this Town centre site, the upgrading and restoration of the building will provide a welcome addition to retail stock and housing stock in the centre of Ramsey.
The building was previously owned by Heron and Brearley Limited and the last operating use, a number of years ago, was as licensed premises at Ground Floor level, originally operating as the Saddle Hotel and latterly as "Nightlife", a night-spot with a 3.00 a.m. music and drinking licence, with self-contained living accommodation on the First Floor level
The building has lain empty for a number of years and is now in need of considerable renovation work to restore the internal fabric of the property into reasonable repair before any new use for the building can be found.
Saddle Buildings face on to Market Place where the area directly in front of the property is a public car park, recently upgraded as part of the Regeneration Scheme for this part of Ramsey. The property is bounded by a Lane on each side with a shop on the south side and the Lucky Star café and food outlet on the north side. The Commercial Hotel sits at the end of this block of properties. The Lanes on each side of Saddle Buildings provide pedestrian access to the rear of Feltons Ironmongers on the north and pedestrian access points to the rear of properties on Market Hill on the south side.
There are no gardens or private amenity space in the immediate vicinity that would be enjoyed solely by occupants of Saddle Buildings.
Briefly, the building is in poor state of repair internally with water penetration on the upper floors resulting in extreme damp ingress at wall/ceiling junctions on the Second Floor level, mainly to the east and south facing Elevations. The damp penetration has resulted in deterioration and collapse of many sections of the old lath and plaster ceiling areas in a number of rooms on the Second Floor. There is also severe damp penetration along the south facing wall, the north facing gable wall has less severe damp penetration, but is still in poor order. The east facing main front wall looking over Market Place car park also suffers from damp penetration resulting in plaster falling off the wall faces.
At First Floor level, there is similar damp penetration to wall faces with the south facing gable wall being in extremely poor condition. The main centrally located room (with angled chimney breast) has suffered from a floor collapse between the First and Second Floor levels and the previous owners have installed steel beams to support floor joist ends at the higher level. The existing floor joist have also been spliced and extended, although in rather poor fashion.
There is severe water penetration at ceiling level to the main front rooms, those containing the bay window constructions, with sections of lath and plaster ceilings collapsing, cornice mouldings perishing and rotting and plaster dislodging from wall faces due to the water penetration.
The Ground Floor level does not show visually the same signs of deterioration, as, virtually every wall at Ground Floor level has been "framed out" from the original wall face and hides the true nature of the existing wall construction.
There is a Basement level, previously used as a cellar for drinks storage, and this is a damp, poor environment.
The original staircase which would have been in place at Ground Floor level set within a central Hall, has been stripped out and removed many years ago by the previous owners so as to "self-contain" the licensed premises area. A number of walls have also been demolished and removed to create an "open plan" effect for the licensed premises and a suspended ceiling ahs been installed throughout the Ground Floor area at differing levels, possibly to provide a more "intimate" atmosphere within the bar areas.
At the First Floor level, the original staircase remains but, the handrail and balusters have all been stripped out and removed and there is a rudimentary timber rail fixed to the timber strings and floor to act as a guard between Landings and the staircase.
Externally, the building remains largely original. When looking from the car park towards Saddle Buildings, the bay window on the south (left hand) side was totally rebuilt, probably some 25 years ago now, but all original details were retained and the new bay window has, at least, been installed by the previous owners in a like-for-like re-construction. All original mouldings and features have been retained externally.
To give a brief indication of the condition of the upper floors of the building, two sheets of colour photographs, with images taken from a number of viewpoints on the First and Second Floors, have been attached at APPENDIX 4.
As the property was sold to my clients with a restrictive covenant noting that the property could not be used as licensed premises, it is my clients wish to renovate and restore the Ground Floor area and utilise the space as a retail outlet. The space to the west of the building, fronting on to Parliament Street, would be separated by a new wall construction sitting underneath the existing rear wall line of Saddle Buildings and the space to the west, previously accommodating the toilet facilities for the licensed premises, would be retained for integration into the existing business operated by Feltons Ironmongers. The Ground Floor area would be one large retail unit with access via the existing main entrance doors adjacent to the car park. New staff toilet facilities together with a staff room would be installed on the south side of the building.
There would be two fire escape exit doors with one on the north side leading directly to the side Lane and the other on the south side leading into the existing rear Hall and then to the access Lane behind properties abutting Market Hill.
The Basement area would be retained with the proposed new retail outlet.
A section of the Ground Floor area on the south side of the building would be partitioned off and a new double stud wall constructed with new timber staircase installed leading up to the First Floor area. The existing door fronting on to the car park area would be re-instated and this would be utilised as access to the upper floor self-contained apartments.
At First Floor level, the layout indicates two self-contained apartments, both containing large Lounge areas, Kitchen and Dining spaces, and two Bedrooms together with a family Bathroom. The apartment numbered 1 would also have the small central room over the main front entrance door upgraded and used as a Study or third Bedroom.
At second Floor level, three self-contained apartments have been indicated, each containing a Lounge, separate Kitchen and Dining area and two Bedrooms together with a family Bathroom.
The new access staircase arrives at landing level (First Floor) on to an existing staircase in the centre of the building. The apartment access would then be up a short flight of existing stairs leading in to the centre of the building at First Floor level. The lower part of the existing staircase would be retained and this would lead down into a rear Hall (existing) where occupants of the apartments could gain direct access to the side Lane (behind Market Hill properties). Here, the bin storage would be situated and also, this would provide an alternative means of escape from upper floors in case of an emergency.
CAR PARKING:
There is no dedicated car parking with Saddle Buildings but, the property immediately abuts a public car park and is close to the bus route through Ramsey.
Customers using any of the retail outlets and facilities in Ramsey are reliant on using public car parks or the disc parking areas in Parliament Street and surrounding side streets and this parking strategy would also be utilised for the proposed retail use for the Ground Floor area of Saddle Buildings.
For deliveries to the retail outlet, there is a dedicated loading bay set alongside the Commercial Hotel in close proximity to Saddle Buildings.
With regard to occupants of the self-contained apartments, again, there is no dedicated car parking area that could be utilised with the building but residents would be able to apply for a "residents parking permit" to enable them to park in the immediate vicinity within the Market Place car park or along the quayside, again in close proximity to Saddle Buildings.
There is a bus stop on Market Place and a bus stop on the main Ramsey - Douglas coast road outside the Britannia Hotel, a short walk away along the end of Parliament Street.
As can be seen from the submitted scheme, the outside of the property will remain as existing with no alterations to the façade or gable ends of the building. The roof line will remain and all original features will be tidied and retained during the re-painting works necessary to uplift the outside of Saddle Buildings.
Prior to submission of this planning application, the Registered Buildings Officer, Ross Brazier, and Planning Officer, Owen Gore, carried out a site visit to inspect the interior of the property to give a view on retention of any historical features or details within the building.
Whilst there is no denying that the building, at the time of construction, was indeed a grand affair with superb cornice mouldings and detailing to the main First Floor reception rooms, together with ornate ceiling roses, the reality is that the majority of cornice mouldings have been removed or broken during the course of "renovation and improvement" works carried out by the previous owners.
At First Floor level, the space on the north side of the building, which was once a large Billiard Room, has been sub-divided and altered to form part of the selfcontained living accommodation in existence within the building. The majority of the original features have been destroyed during the course of the renovation works or have suffered due to the severe damp ingress and are now beyond reasonable repair.
There are no complete cornice mould details left in any of the rooms and the remnants of remaining cornice mouldings and their locations have been indicated on a sheet of colour photographs contained within APPENDIX 4.
Whilst the Registered Buildings Officer was keen to see retention of the cornice mouldings, our view is that the external façade of Saddle Buildings, the one enjoyed by the general public at large, is the element most needed to be retained as the internal cornice mouldings would only be viewed by occupants of apartments at First Floor level.
To ensure that the proposed self-contained apartments comply with the current strict fire separation and sound insulation requirements imposed by the Building Control Section and Fire Safety Department, installation of a lowered ceiling throughout the First Floor area is essential to accommodate a sprinkler system, re-wiring of electrical systems for the apartments, concealed lighting if required, but, more importantly, to provide the necessary fire separation and sound insulation between living units.
At Second Floor level, there are very few, if any, original features such as ceiling roses or cornice mouldings that may be deemed worthy of retention.
At APPENDIX 1, we have enclosed a copy of the original Registration document dated 1991 for registering the Saddle Hotel together with a number of photographs indicating the main Elevation facing on to Market Place.
The more recent photographs attached, showing the same Elevation, demonstrate that the façade has not changed in the 38 years since registration and we consider the external appearance to be of paramount importance whilst the loss of the largely destroyed cornice mouldings would be of less importance to the general public. Their retention would possibly compromise the layout and use of the building if they were to be retained and would seriously impact upon the successful conversion of the property into its' proposed use as shown within this application.
It is our very strong feeling that it is of the utmost importance to retain the building through this suggested use, a use that would involve my client in considerable expense to carry out the renovation and upgrading works, but one that would, at least, provide a return. This would go some way towards offsetting the financial outlay in renovating the building and one which would, hopefully, provide a reliable income stream to ensure the upkeep and maintenance of the building.
The building is a sad reflection of its' former self and this proposed scheme will help alleviate the years of neglect imposed upon such an important building within the Town of Ramsey and restore it, maybe not quite to its' former glory, but to help preserve the identity of this fine building.
The sensitive and practical renovation scheme will restore the building and utilise the whole of the property to the benefit of occupants and tenants, as well as the general public in Ramsey, who will all be able to see this landmark building restored.
We believe that it is of paramount importance to retain and use the building as a whole and not restore the limited, deteriorating internal details within a few rooms which may have to be lost to the greater good.
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