A former telephone exchange next to the railway line at Swindon's historic GWR Works has been given planning permission to become eight one-bedroom flats, after previous attempts in 2022 and 2023 were approved and then simply allowed to lapse before anyone got round to doing anything about it.
The latest application, submitted by Ian Sullivan Architecture Ltd on behalf of LF Property Group Ltd, covers the building tucked between the Bristol Street underpass and Historic England's offices on Fire Fly Avenue. It proposes four flats on the ground floor and four above, ranging from 39.7 to 57.7 square metres, plus a basement with a 16-space cycle store and room for bins. Planning officers recommended approval, saying the scheme would preserve the character of the conservation area, and a planning inspector had already accepted the principle of turning the place into homes. Historic England came round once the window design was tweaked. There is no car parking, which the council's own highways department and Central Swindon North Parish Council objected to, though planners decided the site's closeness to the station and town centre meant residents would not need cars anyway.
It is understood the building has now been granted permission to become flats on three separate occasions without a single brick having moved, giving it a more consistent relationship history than most people in Old Town.
A council spokesperson confirmed work must begin within three years this time, and that the cycle store and bin store must be built and kept in place permanently before anyone is allowed to move in, which is more notice than some of its neighbours got before their own extensions went up.
Only one member of the public commented during consultation, asking for swift bricks to be included so birds could nest in the walls. Officers agreed, meaning the building may end up housing more swifts than humans in its first winter, depending on how quickly anyone actually moves in.
Brenda Pask, 72, of Old Town, who has lived there since before it was old, said she remembered when the telephone exchange was simply the place you rang if your phone went funny. 'Eight flats and no parking,' she said. 'Ron would have wanted to know where the residents are meant to put their Austin Allegro. Mind you, nobody's had an Austin Allegro since about 1981, so perhaps they've thought of that.'
Gary Tench, Area Manager at Tench Paper Solutions in Westlea, said the building's track record had given him a new way of describing his own proposal to move his desk nearer the window. 'Approved in principle twice, never actually happened, that's basically my seating plan,' he said, adding that he felt a real kinship with a structure that kept getting the green light and then quietly not being touched.
The pedestrian route between the subway and Fire Fly Avenue must remain clear throughout construction and afterwards, the council confirmed, which given the building's history gives it roughly three years longer than most things ever get left alone around here.