Prior approval has been granted for a St Albans office block to become 20 new flats.

The application for part of Aecom House, at 63-77 Victoria Street, will see its usage changed from Class E (commercial) to Class C3 (residential).

Floor plans for the first and second floors of the development, and proposed elevations for the 1980s building, have been included within the plans.

The building is located within a conservation area, but is not listed.

Herts Advertiser: Aecom House, in Victoria Street.Aecom House, in Victoria Street. (Image: Google Maps)

A previous application for 19 apartments at the site was refused in October 2023, when further information in relation to daylight was required.

Seven public comments and objections were made to the plans, with one resident of Liverpool Road stating: "As with the previous application, we have serious concerns about overlooking straight into our garden and to the rear of our property.  

"Several windows from the newly created flats at first and second floors will directly overlook us.

Herts Advertiser: Proposed elevations for Aecom House, Victoria Street, St Albans.Proposed elevations for Aecom House, Victoria Street, St Albans. (Image: Oakmont / St Albans City & District Council)

"The applicant has done nothing to address this or alleviate the problem in this latest application."

Another comment, from a resident at Upper Marlborough Road, reads: "The developer has changed the development following the rejection of the previous application.

"However, many of the issues still remain and the new design makes the quality of the office and residential properties significantly worse than the last application.

"In particular, the daylight/sunlight assessment provided is of poor quality.

Herts Advertiser: No external changes have been proposed.No external changes have been proposed. (Image: Oakmont / St Albans City & District Council)

"Therefore, I urge the planning department to reject the application and advise the applicant to revisit the scheme with a properly developed full scale planning application or preferably to maintain the building as office use."

A covering letter included within the planning application explained how a "detailed light assessment" has taken place.

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The letter states: "The submission now includes a detailed daylight assessment which demonstrates that the apartments will benefit from adequate natural daylight.

"Therefore, we submit the change of use of this building to form 20 apartments."

The plans can be viewed by using reference 5/2023/2412 on the St Albans City & District Council planning portal.