"Radical" plans to renovate a Warwick town centre building have been signed off by district planners.

Strandpark Properties Ltd has been granted planning permission to complete a major refurbishment at 16-18 High Street, in order to prevent a "future collapse" of the roof.

The project - which will focus on the vacant first and second floors - will see a new roof installed and steel beams to support the second floor after "various serious structural defects" were discovered.

The scheme will then see much of the original material reinstated to hide the beams from view and preserve the "historic pattern" of the building.

"The vacant upper floors above no. 18 are currently incapable of being brought back into productive economic use without a programme to address the structural deficiencies and to generally upgrade the internal spaces," the application said.

It added: "The applications propose a radical, but wholly necessary, programme of works designed to stabilise a roof that is structurally failing and is a situation where a major structural intervention is now inevitable."

The ground floor of the building - formerly Ask Italian - is not to be impacted by the works, having recently reopened as a coffee shop.

Signing off on the works, a council report said: "The conclusion of the applicant's Structural Engineer is that without swift implementation of the planned programme of repairs, a future collapse of part of the roof structure is a realistic possibility.

advertisement

"The proposals would not have a detrimental impact on the Listed Building and would preserve the appearance and character of the Conservation Area. 

"In addition, the proposals are not considered to have a harmful impact upon the amenity of the neighbouring properties in relation to outlook and amenity."

See the plans here.