There have been many new residential and commercial developments in Nottingham in recent years, but the city could be about to get its first skyscraper.
Normally, new building projects in Nottingham involve low-rise housing, medium-sized office blocks or transport schemes such as the expanding Supertram network. But all that could be changed with the arrival of a 40-storey tower in the city.
The proposal, by student accommodation developer Code Students, would be almost twice as tall as the existing tallest building in the city, the 75 metre, 22-storey Victoria Flats building.
In a new update from the developer reported in the Nottingham Post, a spokesperson for the developer said it is “working up” the plans, adding: "Once we have a scheme that is sufficiently developed, we will be engaging further with the Planning Authority and undertaking a public consultation ahead of submitting a planning application.”
The 1,500-room block would represent the fulfilment of Code’s stated ambition to break into the Nottingham student accommodation market, where there is a shortfall of rooms. The plans were originally unveiled a year ago.
However, the idea that Nottingham might go down the path of larger cities such as Birmingham and Manchester in seeing a sudden surge in skyscraper building is far from assured, as the proposals have received a cool reception from opponents, including Nottingham Civic Society and former Nottingham South MP Alan Simpson.
Mr Simpson had labelled the development “Covid Towers”, arguing that it was the kind of building that could enable superspreading during an epidemic.
A former advisor on climate policy, he argued a better alternative would be to convert and refurbish existing buildings.
That idea echoes the view of the RetroFirst campaign, run by trade magazine Architects Journal, which argues concerns like embedded carbon make it more environmentally friendly to shift the focus from new building to renovation.