Green light for Bolton storage facility
Lokn’Store Ltd won approval for a storage facility at Bolton Council’s planning committee meeting on Thursday afternoon, following officer recommendations.
This project, put forward by planning consultant Rapleys, comes at a time of record occupancy for storage facilities.
The 86,100 sq ft development will be situated on Lower Bridgeman Street between Manchester Road and Gorton Street. The 1.33 acre site, owned by Bolton Council, was the former home of Bolton Community College, a leisure facility, and commercial buildings – all of which have been demolished.
Having been on the council’s housing allocation plan for over 10 years, the decision to build commercial property on this land proved to be controversial. Ultimately, councillors deemed the change justified in order to turn the long vacant site back into use.
Hale Architecture designed the plans for the four-storey commercial development, designed to provide an active face to the junction of Manchester Road and Lower Bridgeman Street. The building will be enhanced with a large area of new green planting.
The building’s exterior will use different coloured panel and planes to reference the order of the surrounding historic brick and punched window facades, with a bright orange colour palette specific to Lokn’Store’s branding.
The facility will offer 12 car parking spaces and three loading bays.
The company previously suffered a setback in November when planning permission for a 95,000 sq ft storage facility was refused by Trafford Council.
The approved application’s reference number with Bolton Council is 14965/22.
