KIDDERMINSTER’S ‘downtrodden’ Margaret Thatcher House is set to be converted into ten apartments.
The scheme, which was approved by Wyre Forest District Council’s planning committee this week, will transform the building into 10 self-contained apartments, utilising all three floors.
Of the ten apartments, eight will be one-bedroom apartments, and the others will be two-bedroom apartments.
Four apartments will be located on the ground-floor, and the remaining six apartments will be spread evenly across the first and second floor.
Alterations to the external appearance of the property will also take place.
On the upper floors, the existing red brickwork is to be retained, and the existing grey powder and red powder panels are proposed to be replaced with render.
The existing windows are being removed and replaced with a more modern design.
The rear car park will be reduced in size to 12 parking spaces, providing one parking space per one-bedroom apartment, and two spaces for the two-bedroom flats.
The building is currently a three-storey, detached office block on Mill Street.
It was originally built in the mid 1970’s to house Kidderminster’s new Conservative Club.
It later became general office space used by various companies in the intervening period.
The building was named to honour Britain’s first Prime Minister, the ‘Iron Lady’ Margaret Thatcher, who served in the top job between 1979 and 1990.
Margaret Thatcher House entered a period of disuse as the commercial occupation of the property ended sometime between 2018 and 2022.
A previous planning application to convert the office building into four shops and nine apartments was approved back in 2020, but this was never implemented.
Coun Marcus Hart, the leader of the council, supported the plans.
Speaking at the planning committee meeting, he said: “We approved planning back in 2020, and it’s a scandal that this building is still looking really downtrodden and the windows are smashed.”
A staunch Conservative, Coun Hart also joked he felt a condition should be added, saying that the name should remain Margaret Thatcher House in honour of the former Prime Minister.
