Businesses on a street 'perfect for business and students' have welcomed new accommodation plans. Raleigh House, a large office building on Alfreton Road, Radford would be turned into a 53-bedroom student block if new plans are approved.
The existing building was constructed in the early 2000’s and used as an office. But the office was vacated in 2020 and has been derelict ever since.
Local businesses welcomed the project, which they believed would bring more customers into the area. Sandra Naktiniene, 32, who works at Kaya Food Centre on Alfreton Road, said the area was "perfect".
Read more: Excitement over 'beautiful' project after demolition of Forest Mill 'eyesore'
"You do not need to go anywhere else if you live here, you can buy anything in the shops nearby. It is perfect for students and business," Ms Naktiniene said.
"Of course, it is always nice to get more people into the area. It's quite a big building so it would be good to fill it.
"It is very convenient for students here. You've got everything and you're still close to the city centre."
Mussie-Solomon Ogbegaber, 44, manager of the Superstore £1 Plus on Alfreton Road, said: "It is good to bring more people down here.
"It is all helping the area of course. It is all good for the businesses around here, and it is a place students will want to live in."
Mr Ogbegaber, who moved from Eritrea and has run the shop for almost 10 years, added: "For students it will be good to live in this community, where there are a lot of people from different places.
"The building being used also makes the area look a bit better. This area with all the businesses, and the building around here, is on the way up."
Most of the planned works would remain within the footprint of the original building with limited material alterations to the front of the office. There are no proposed external extensions as part of this application.
Nearby, at the site formerly occupied by the Forest Mill office building on Alfreton Road, there are other plans for a 790-bedroom student complex stretching across to Denman Street East, which at its tallest would be eight-storeys. The five-storey Forest Mill block, which was built in the 1960s and had been left vacant for decades, was knocked down in June 2019.
Hamza Jafari, 42, owner of Mobile repair service on Alfreton Road next to Raleigh House, said: "This would be a very good thing for us. I have a lot of student customers already so to have more close by would be good.
"Having houses in the office would make the area, which is already busy, busier with new customers. Students are in here everyday, even Saturday and Sunday, I think they drop their phones while partying a lot."
Sherif Omar, 48, a shopkeeper at Max Mobile on Alfreton Road, added: "It's a good idea to bring more students here.
"Most businesses on the street probably think the same thing. There are still some shops struggling after Covid, it could help them to recover if there are more people around.
"There's no reason to keep it empty. It would add to improving the local area."
There would be a shared common space at ground floor in the renovated building. Additionally, the ground floor accommodation would include laundry facilities for all residents and a dedicated co-working space for residents.
In a planning document, ARC Design Studio said: "We consider the proposal described within this design and access statement to be both appropriate for and considerate to the context in which it is designed for. Any potential impact on the local context and community has been carefully considered through a series of focused studies that have worked to maximise the opportunities of the site whilst responding to identified constraints.
"By taking a previously vacant commercial building with limited immediate value, both economically and socially, and redefining this as a purposefully designed student hub the proposal works to alleviate demand on local family housing, whilst accommodating a range of practical amenities that will support and promote an active and healthy socio-economic engagement between people and place.
"Locally, the re-activation of the street scene and general occupation of the site will strengthen and stabilise what is a prominent route into and out of the city centre, providing a high quality, accessible and contextually engaged building that meets the dynamic demands of modern student accommodation; all whilst minimising the demands on raw materials through intelligent reuse and adaptation." The application is currently pending consideration by Nottingham City Council.
