Apartments plan for Burnley
5:45pm Tuesday 13th May 2008
PLANS for a new apartments complex in Burnley could bring a touch of big-city architecture to the town, the developer has said.
Proposals have been submitted to Burnley Council to demolish Calder Vale House, Calder Street, and replace it with an eco-friendly eight-storey building, echoing Manchester's Urbis Museum.
The glass-fronted development would be fitted with solar panels and photo-voltaic cells to convert available sunlight into electrical energy.
Currently the building, on the banks of the River Calder, is home to the Active Way Beds and Furniture Centre.
Under the proposals 38 two-bedroom apartments and 12 one-bedrooom apartments would be created.
The ground floor would include a restaurant, with an entrance off Orchard Bridge, and commercial office space, with housing on alll other floors.
Agent Stephen Hetherington says in a planning statement that the plans "present an opportunity to regenerate a brownfield site in order to improve the image of the borough" and were based on the Urbis museum's model.
The eco-apartments are the latest residential regeneration scheme to be unveiled for Burnley town centre.
Proposals have been put forward to redevelop the Keirby Park Hotel, with an 11-storey apartment block pencilled in next to the landmark venue.
And masterplans for the Weaver's Triangle heritage site should bring dozens more residential properties to the centre of town.