Plymouth's abandoned register office to be auctioned and could be a hotel
Plymouth’s former register office is to be auctioned off later this year. The abandoned building on the Hoe has been disused since 2020 when weddings and records of births and deaths were moved to new premises at Derriford Business Park.
The plan was to empty the building for redevelopment with the local plan earmarking the 0.27-hectare site for a mixed-use scheme including a “quality” hotel and 52 homes. The Lockyer Street property, which opened in April 1982, will now go under the hammer in November at an auction run by Clive Emson Land and Property Auctioneers.
A Plymouth City Council spokesman said: “While the old register office building on Lockyer Street is not currently for sale, the council will be placing the property to auction with Clive Emson on 1 November 1 this year.”
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Earlier this month PlymouthLive reported that the council aims to raise nearly £9m from selling off “surplus property”. This will pay for 29% of the £29,892,665 cost of the ambitious Armada Way revamp.
The council has “ring-fenced” assets which it is selling, estimated to be worth about £12,750,000 of which £8,716,449 will be used to pay construction costs on the Armada Way scheme . The council told PlymouthLive: “The details of the specific assets being disposed of is commercially sensitive information, until such time that the disposals are completed.”
In June, PlymouthLive revealed that Midland House, on the corner of Notte Street and Princess Street Ope, had been put on sale by the council after being deemed surplus to requirements. Offers are being invited for the five-storey pile, and the council wants to know what prospective developers want to turn it into and proof they have enough cash to do it.
The Plymouth and South West Devon Joint Local Plan 2014-2034 said the Register Office is allocated for: “Mixed-use development, including a quality hotel and housing. Provision is made for in the order of 52 homes.” It said the development should provide “high-quality architecture that maximises the site’s redevelopment potential and the site’s role as a strategic gateway to Armada Way.
“The design should be informed by a detailed heritage character assessment to be undertaken for the proposal and should conserve and where appropriate enhance the character or appearance of the Hoe Conservation Area and Registered Park and Garden.”
It wants “active ground floor frontages to be encouraged to enliven all public streets and spaces – Armada Way and Citadel Road in particular”, and “improved east/west public access along the site’s north boundary, linking Armada Way to Lockyer Street”.
The plan also wants a “high-quality public realm including enhancement of Armada Way” and “innovative car parking solutions to reduce the visual impact of vehicles on the public realm”.
When PlymouthLive visited the site to take photos, several rough sleepers were found sheltering around the building. In July this year a man who had recently been evicted was found dead in the doorway of the former register office.
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