Historic brewery faces demolition as council recommends flats plan (From York Press)

Historic brewery faces demolition as council recommends flats plan

10:45am Thursday 13th September 2007 in Search By Jeremy Small

A GRADE II listed former brewery in the heart of York is set to be demolished to make way for apartments.

A City of York Council report has recommended the authority's planning committee approve an application to knock down the building in Ogleforth, off Goodramgate.

The complex currently consists of several vacant warehouses. If the committee gives the plan the green light, the brewery will be replaced with three flats, while the remaining buildings will be converted into nine flats.

Another planning committee meeting in May had deferred the application in a bid to see if the ex-brewery - which was built early in the 20th century - could be converted into apartments rather than demolished.

But the report says engineers have concluded the building is in a poor state of repair and is not structurally sound.

"Although this single-storey building has some interesting architectural features, it is not of the same quality as the main warehouse buildings to the rear," the report said.

"A structural report has been submitted which states that the building is in a poor state of repair, with a wall that is notably out of plumb, vertical and horizontal cracks and water seeping in, all of which are considered to be significant enough to reduce the structural integrity of the building."

It says the engineers' report concludes the repair of the building is not economically viable.

The report goes on to say that the view of the neighbouring properties would be respected by the development, in particular through the reduced height of the single-storey building.

The central area planning committee will consider the application at a meeting next Thursday.

The Press reported in May how the west and city centre area planning committee had deferred the application to see if the building could be saved from demolition.

Keith Daggett, of Shipton Road, York, wrote to the council to voice his objection, saying: "The building to be demolished has good features - an emphatic range of windows, an oversized lunette and a distinctive profiled parapet to Ogleforth.

"In recent years, we have lost similar early 20th century industrial buildings, on St Maurice's Road and Foss Islands."

Coun David Horton, pictured, chairman of the committee that deferred the application in May, said at the time that he hoped the applicant would deliver a solution whereby the apartments could be built without any of the historic warehouses being demolished.