Portslade office block could be converted into 12 flats

The building at 6 Infinity Close, Portslade, was completed in 2015 and has remained vacant ever since, leading to “break-ins and other anti-social behaviour”, according to the applicant.

The site, which has street frontage onto both Infinity Close and Franklin Road, was previously home to Infinity Foods before the construction of the office block.

Now owned by Rayford Tower LLP, the building was developed by Taylor Wimpey with the original intention of being used as office space.

However, it never attracted interest from businesses and has not contributed to business floorspace provision in the Brighton and Hove area.

The building has laid vacant for a decade (Image: Google) The new planning application seeks to convert the empty structure into 12 “high-quality residential apartments”.

The proposed alterations to the building are “very minor,” and include the creation of balconies for eight of the flats, garden areas for two of the flats, a terrace area for one flat, and the creation of a grassland roof.

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The application says: “Given the housing need context, the proposed development provides a clear opportunity for the sustainable re-use of an existing building.

“The development will have a positive influence on the character of the area, through the loss of an unrequired use which attracts unsociable behaviour and its associated movements.”

The Infinity Foods building was demolished to make way for the office building (Image: Google) READ NEXT: Sussex restaurant named among UK’s top 100 in national awards

Back in 2016, a similar planning application was submitted but was rejected by Brighton and Hove City Council, which deemed the proposed loss of employment space unacceptable at that time.

A marketing report included in the 2016 application argued that the building was unviable as a commercial office, writing: “Portslade is a secondary location in comparison to Brighton and Hove to the east, and Shoreham/Worthing to the west, and is therefore far less attractive for a business.”

The recent application argues that the lack of use of the building in the intervening years demonstrates that “it is clear there has been no change to any of these previously raised market factors.”

“If anything, these issues have only been further compounded through subsequent factors in the intervening period”, they added.