New Lynn marina plan scaled back
DEVELOPERS have bowed to public pressure and scaled back multi-million pound designs for the overhaul of the former grain silo on Lynn's waterfront.
The new scheme is expected to have its nine-storey design reduced by up to two storeys, have an extra floor dedicated to parking and have a different look to try to make it fit in better with its surroundings. The controversial grain lift tower will still be retained as "a feature".
Hertfordshire-based developer Inner Circle Group came under fire from heritage and conservation experts, particulary via the Letters Pages of the Lynn News, when it unveiled Norwich architects Chaplin Farrant's designs to transform the South Quay site into an apartment and hotel complex, including shops, a restaurant and caf.
READ ALSO: More cash for Lynn marina
Inner Circle Group development manager Lee Fitzpatrick said: "We are not a company that just steamrollers over everyone.
"We do listen and we want a scheme that is liked by people."
Mr Fitzpatrick said new designs should be with him in the next seven days and should go on display again in Lynn by the middle of next month.
He is expecting the amount of parking to have near-doubled from the original 73 spaces, the hotel space to be down from 54-bedrooms and number of apartments less than 62.
There had previously been talks of in the region of 90 apartments.
The grain lift tower will continue to be built in as a feature of the design because the company has been told by West Norfolk Council that is something it wants retained, Mr Fitzpatrick said.
Lynn Preservation Trust vice-chairman David Woodcock branded the original design something out of the "Hillington Square school of architecture" and town resident Dr Simon Thurley, who is chief executive of English Heritage, labelled it a "flatpack building" that would damage Lynn forever.
Honorary secretary of Lynn Preservation Trust David Higgins said: "We are pleased they have decided to go back to the drawing board. From what we hear they are covering many of the concerns we expressed to them through the consultation though it remains to be seen what they now actually produce.
"I am rather cautious in the fact they have managed to do it so quickly. It suggests a superficial change rather than the fundamental change that was needed."
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Weather for King's Lynn
Sunday 27 May 2012
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