Amendments to Residential Permitted Development Rights for the conversion of offices
Amendments to Class MA of The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development etc.) (England) (Amendment) Order 2021 recently came into force on 5th March 2024. Class MA provides permitted development rights for the change of use from Class E to Residential subject to the property meeting a set criteria.
The amendments provided a helpful reduction in the eligibility criteria of properties under class MA by removing the following conditions:
- The property to be vacant for a continuous period of at least 3 months immediately prior to the date of the application for prior approval.
- The property to be less than 1,500 sq. m.
John Logan MRICS commented “These amendments broaden the eligibility of properties for permitted development rights, through greater inclusion and reducing the timescales by not having to absorb a void period prior to submitting an application for prior approval. In turn, this provides vendors and purchasers with greater flexibility, and we anticipate that this will result in increased obsolete office stock being converted to residential, giving tired, outmoded office buildings a new lease of life.”
Although this will lead to a reduction in the total amount of available office space, it is very unlikely to impact the availability of space for business occupiers. Over recent years, we have witnessed occupiers seeking the very best office accommodation available for their businesses as working patterns change, providing a high quality working environment which offers modern, functional and flexible space, capable of adapting to changing needs. We expect that this will continue the trend of secondary accommodation being repurposed for residential and other alternative uses, as market demand dictates.
Residential conversion will only take place if the building is no longer capable of meeting office occupier requirements and it is financially viable to undertake the conversion scheme. High specification offices which provide the accommodation sought by tenants will remain in demand and continue to yield strong rents. Coupled with significant increases in build costs over recent years, such assets are not under threat from residential conversion and we do not expect to see this change over the coming years for well-located Grade A accommodation in the region. It will, however, continue to result in the ‘recycling’ of secondary offices, creating much needed additional housing in our towns and cities.
Our Building Consultancy team have secured a number of successful approvals within East Anglia, to achieve conversion from commercial to residential under the class MA. Working closely with colleagues in our commercial division, our Building Surveyors provide advice from initial scheme design to suitability of conversion, in compliance with the planning constraints within the GDPO. Although a simplified planning process, several considerations such as natural light, flood risk, noise and space constraints, as well as impact on highway safety, need to be carefully considered during the design and inception phase. Some recent examples include both Tindal Street and Moulsham Street in Chelmsford, with change of use secured on behalf of clients prior to disposal by our agency colleagues.
Fenn Wright have recently transacted numerous offices throughout the region which are in the process or have been converted to residential and we provide examples as follows:
Markerstudy House and Waterloo Chambers, Waterloo Lane, Chelmsford
This formed two interconnecting office buildings comprising a gross internal area of approximately 25,492 sq ft. and benefitted from prior approval for 22 residential dwellings.
2 St Johns Street, Colchester
A self-contained three storey office building, of approx. 15,367 sq ft., with 27 on site parking spaces within a secure basement carpark. Sold for residential conversion without prior formal planning approval.
Giles Place, Princes Street, Ipswich
This prominent five storey town centre office building of 41,817 sq ft. was sold with prior approval for the creation of 35 one and two bedroom flats, together with basement storage.
