Flats will help pay for new look civic centre

£51 MILLION REVAMP TO BE COMPLETED BY 2028

- WILLIAM TELFORD

PLYMOUTH'S towering Civic Centre is planned to be turned into a block of flats including "high-end luxury apartments" by 2028.

The upper floors of the Grade II listed skyscraper will contain 144 apartments with many sold on the private market to help pay for the £51m development cost.

Earlier this month Plymouth City Council revealed ambitious plans to buy back the 14-storey monolith from Manchester-headquartered developer Urban Splash for £1.

The authority explained how it had secured £8.5m in Levelling Up funding to create a new campus for City College Plymouth on the three lowest floors.

Now more details have been released about how the ambitious project, seen as central to redevelopment of the city centre, will be financed and the time frame for transforming the enormous city centre building.

More has also been revealed about the mix of apartments the block will contain.

Cllr Mark Lowry, the council's cabinet member for finance and city centre champion, said the aim is to have 144 apartments in the 11 upper floors, of mixed tenure with 40% of them classed as "affordable".

But some will be for sale, including "a few high-end luxury apartments, given the amazing views that exist on any floor, any elevation and on any side" Cllr Lowry said.

"That includes views across the Sound, to Cornwall and Dartmoor," he said. "There is not a bad view in that place.