Riverside build-to-rent scheme set for approval

A proposed build-to-rent development of more than 250 flats at Sheffield’s Wicker Island is set to move forward with plans recommended for approval when they go before councillors next week (19 February 2019).Brickland, supported by Whittam Cox Architects, submitted an application to Sheffield City Council towards the end of 2018 for the former Sheffield Testing Laboratories site, fronting onto the River Don.Planning permission is sought for the demolition of the existing commercial buildings on the site, and the construction of three interconnected blocks of up to 12 storeys.The development would comprise 268 apartments, together with two commercial units and car parking on the ground floor.A planning officer’s report prepared for the meeting recommends that consent is granted, subject to conditions. The council’s planning and highways committee will consider the application at a meeting on 19 February 2019.According to the report, the scheme will “bring a large, strategic, riverside site back into use and help to meet the city’s housing needs by providing high quality homes in a convenient and easily accessible location”.The application site is close to two grade II-listed buildings; the New Testament Church of God and Aizlewoods Mill.