Proposals to build 17 residential flats in Aberdeen have been recommended for refusal by council planners.
The site currently accommodates a substantial granite building of 19th-century origin and was previously used as a printer’s workshop.
The flats would all be one-bedroom units and would be accessed via a communal entry from the street.
However, councillors on Aberdeen City Council‘s planning development management committee, which meets next week, have been recommended to refuse the application.
Eight objections were received regarding the development.
Concerns were raised over the loss of existing granite building and the proposed building not in keeping with traditional tenements and the character and appearance of
the original building and streetscape.
There were also concerns over the privacy impact and the loss of light for
the adjacent garden ground and flats.
Planners have said the proposals are an “unsatisfactory design solution” and does not meet expectations of local planning policies.
A report, which will be put before councillors on Thursday, said: “Notwithstanding that the site lies outwith a conservation area, and lies within the city centre, where
there is a desire to secure provision of additional housing, given the extent of the existing granite building on the site which would be demolished, and the developed context of the site, whereby there is a strong emphasis on historic granite street frontages, the proposal is considered to result in an unsatisfactory design solution.
“It would therefore not accord with the expectations of local plan policies D1: Quality Placemaking by Design and D5: Our Granite Heritage within the Aberdeen Local Development Plan 2017 and the objective of granite re-use set out in ACC Materials Technical Advice Note of March 2020.
“In particular, the proposed use of smooth render as an external wall material does not relate well to the local context, where use of historic granite predominates.
“There would be inadequate visible re-use of granite down-takings on the principal
elevation, and visible (front) parts of the side elevations when viewed from Maberly Street.
“No technical evidence has been presented that such re-use of granite within the development is not feasible and it is considered that the wider benefits of the development and compliance with other local plan policies do not outweigh such conflict.”
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