A consultation is being launched this week over plans to redevelop Harrogate Borough Council’s former headquarters.
Impala Estates Ltd bought Crescent Gardens for £4m in January and is preparing to submit a planning application to bring the building back into use.
As well as refurbishing the existing building to deliver modern offices for up to 400 people, the company proposes adding a second and third floor to provide space for a restaurant and terrace, which would be open to the public. James Hartley, asset manager and surveyor at Impala, said:
“Our aim is to bring the building back into use by developing it in a sensitive way that fits in with the diverse architecture in the surrounding area. We hope to create flexible office and public space in a central part of town.”
The refurbishment includes the creation of offices for multiple occupancy, along with meeting rooms, a gym and shower facilities. Historic rooms, including the former council chamber and mayor’s parlour, will be used as meeting space, which will also be available for public use.
Impala said the additional floors will be set back from the front and rear elevations of the existing building. The site will also be made energy efficient as part of the refurbishment project.
The plans have been drawn up by Harrogate-based S&SA Architects. The developers are inviting feedback from the public via their website from Thursday, before a planning application is submitted within the next couple of months.
Sale of Crescent Gardens
Crescent Gardens has been out of use for three years after Harrogate Borough Council first agreed to sell it and build a new headquarters in 2015. A preferred bidder was chosen, but the sale fell through later that year.
In March 2017, local developer Adam Thorpe was confirmed as the new buyer, through ATP (Crescent Gardens) Ltd, with contracts exchanged that year and completion dependent upon a planning application being submitted to redevelop the building.
The agreed sale price was £6.31 million, with a 25% uplift due to HBC if planning permission was achieved and implemented for a change of use to anything other than predominantly office space within five years of the sale.
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Mr Thorpe said his plans included luxury apartments and an art gallery and, in February 2019, said he had agreed sales on 10 of the 12 apartments including one “comfortably above” £10 million.
When the sale collapsed a few months later, Mr Thorpe owed the council more than £30,000 in unpaid rent for the years in which he had used the building following exchange of contracts. The council had also paid legal fees of more than £11,000 in pursuing completion.
Meanwhile, HBC staff moved into the new headquarters at Knapping Mount in late 2017.
Impala was announced as the new buyer in early 2020, with an agreed price of £4m. A 25% uplift will again apply should planning permission for residential use be achieved and implemented within five years.
