Talks still on for luxury apartment bid at Debenhams

POTENTIAL FUTURE FOR MAJOR CITY SITE CONFIRMED

- By OLIVER PRIDMORE [e-mail]

THE potential future of Nottingham's Debenhams building has finally been revealed four years after it became empty.

Talks are still under way between Nottingham City Council and the building’s owner.

The history of the premises dates back to 1846. Experts warn that the site is so complex that it could still be a long time before an official planning application is submitted.

Yet the plan for the future of the building has now been confirmed.

The intention is for the site to primarily become luxury apartments. That would involve the demolition of a more modern part of the building and the creation of a multi-storey apartment block in its place.

The frontages on some of the properties making up the site would also be replaced.

The plans were laid out on December 1, at a meeting held by the building’s managers and attended by Nottingham Civic Society.

Longmead Capital, the asset management company which is working on the plans on behalf of the owners, has confirmed that luxury apartments remain the broad ambition, but the company also says all plans are at an early stage and that talks continue.

Longmead Capital associate director Edward Tuckett said: “We are in conversations with the city council’s planning team around our proposals for this iconic Nottingham building and it is a collaborative process.

“This is a complicated site involving a listed building so it is very important that we find the best solution for its future use.”

The Debenhams building is formed from several historic sites that were gradually acquired by the department store’s forerunner. The large Dickinson's drapery shop opened in Long Row in 1846 and was bought by businessmen William Griffin and John Spalding in 1878.

The pair rebuilt the shop in the late 1880s to establish the department store Griffin and Spalding - the name it would keep for 100 years.