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commercial limited {{image:81590}} Planning & Design Statement
July 2013
This application seeks planning consent to erect an office building for use as corporate headquarters on a vacant site of approximately 1.02 acres at the Isle of Man Business Park (IoMBP). It is within an area that has previously been approved for Business Park use under PAs 89/04166 & 90/04155 and is included within the Business Park "Masterplan" area identified in the extant Braddan Local Plan. It was also within an area proposed for Business Park use in the now abandoned Draft Braddan Parish Plan 2003. Planning approval has previously been granted under PA 99/02059/8 and PA 04/00790/8 to develop the site with an office building.
Business Policy 7 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan (IoMSP) states that "New office floor space should be located within town and village centres on land which is zoned for the purpose on the appropriate area plan; exceptionally, permission may be given for new office space (a) on approved Business Parks for Corporate Headquarters which do not involve day to day callers". Business Policy 8 states that "New office buildings should, in terms of height and mass, respect the scale and character of adjoining and nearby buildings and should accommodate parking space in accordance with the standards specified in Appendix 7 of the Plan". The parking standard for out of town offices is set at 1 space for every 15 square metres of nett floor space.
The proposed building will accommodate approximately 1663 sq.m of total floor area over three floors, thus reflecting the scale and character of a number of other office buildings in the IoMBP. The building will have a nett floor area of approximately 1150sq.m, which equates to a requirement for 77 parking spaces when applying the relevant standard of the IoMSP; the provision of 109 parking spaces as proposed will thus satisfy the relevant standard.
The site is currently unoccupied with minimal vegetation restricted to wild grasses and low ground cover. There are no trees on the site.
Vehicular access to the site is to be taken from Vicarage Rise, with a pedestrian link to Vicarage Way (the main road through the IoMBP). A Transport Assessment prepared by Bryan G Hall Consulting Civil & Transportation Planning Engineers accompanied the applications which were made in respect of recent office schemes in the IoMBP (referred to below) and it showed that the roads and junctions within the IoMBP are presently operating well within their traffic carrying capacities during both the morning and evening peak hours. It assigned the traffic likely to be generated by those office proposals to the IoMBP access road network on the basis of its existing flows and it showed that these roads and junctions would continue to operate well within their traffic carrying capacities during both the morning and evening peak hours in both 2011 and 2016. It also assigned the traffic likely to be generated by development of all the undeveloped land adjacent to those application sites and again showed that the roads and junction would continue to operate well within their traffic carrying capacities during both the morning and evening peak hours in 2016 and that any delays to traffic waiting to join the spine road from the access road would not be materially different from those which are experienced today. It concluded that "the traffic likely to be generated by the application proposals and by the development of the adjoining undeveloped land will not be detrimental to the safety or convenience of other road users within the Business Park".
The form, detailing and use of materials on the proposed building also reflect those of other office buildings on the Isle of Man Business Park, most notably the Celton Manx building (and the yet to be built office buildings on plots adjacent to Celton Manx) but also elements found on buildings such as Dandara Head Office and Island House. A scheme of landscaping and planting will be undertaken within the site, and the development will be connected to the existing public foul and surface water sewers.
Architecturally the aesthetic of developments on and around the business park has evolved over the last decade. Movement from the over-sized domestic Victoriana of rendered buildings with mouldings and slate (effect) pitched rooves of the 1990's to a more contemporary aesthetic of strong geometric compositions. This new aesthetic retains vernacular materials of render and manx stone, mixed with glass and steel, overlaying them in dynamic blocks, utilising overhangs, suspended floor levels and clean rooflines to reduce massing and produce a sense of movement. This shift to the contemporary reflects the aspirations of progressive business.
The design principals which form the basis of this scheme have developed from those described previously. The palette of materials used includes render and Manx stone, set against the crisp anthracite gray of the frames and detailing. A white 2 storey block is seated over a visually withdrawn ground floor and Manx stone piers, broken by a randomised composition of vertically orientated windows and divided off-centre by the glazed entrance feature. The scheme also includes generous areas of landscaping to both soften the hard lines of the structure and enhance the visual amenity of the whole area.
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