West Bromwich offices could become flats in latest housing plans for town
An office block in West Bromwich could be converted into flats under new plans.
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The move by property developer FPG Group would see Allied House in Lombard Street, off West Bromwich High Street, converted into 44 one and two-bed flats, according to an application submitted to Sandwell Council.
Sandwell Council approved the same application to convert the six-storey building next to the town’s Astle Retail Park into flats in 2020 but the work was never carried out.
The application is one of several housing plans for West Bromwich High Street.
Up to 26 ‘affordable’ flats will be built on the site of an historic former gas showroom on the corner of Lombard Street West and West Bromwich High Street, next to the town’s recently-restored library.
The land was home to the town’s crumbling former gas showroom before it was demolished in 2017 with parts of the building, which had been a fixture of West Bromwich High Street for more than 75 years but later described as a ‘blight’ after years of neglect, relocated to the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley.
The £7.5m year-long restoration and renovation of West Bromwich Town Hall and Central Library was completed in November last year.
Last month, another attempt was made to convert the former grade II listed solicitors offices at 315-319 High Street converted into a 36-bed HMO.
The same planning application was turned down by Sandwell Council at the start of the year.
The local authority’s planners rejected the move to extend the listed building, opposite West Bromwich Town Hall and Central Library, saying they were unable to decide whether the “harm” to the listed building could be outweighed by potential benefits.
Sandwell Council approved plans to turn the former offices into a 35-bed HMO in 2020 but the work was never carried out.
The local authority’s planners rejected the move to extend the listed building, opposite the town’s newly restored Town Hall and Central Library, saying they were unable to decide whether the “harm” to the listed building could be outweighed by potential benefits.
