Call 01209 310800 or submit an enquiry via our Contact Us form
We are always on the look out for appropriate land on which to develop luxury homes. If you have land for sale please contact us and we will be happy to discuss your needs.
Hotel conversion plan revived
Plans to convert a rundown Falmouth hotel into apartments have been revived by prospective new owners Rowe Property Developments. Subject to the granting of planning permission, the company has agreed to buy the 34-bedroom Gyllyngdune Manor Hotel from Falmouth-based Devington Homes.
The hotel, previously owned by the Tarrant family for over 20 years, has been closed since 2001, when Devington submitted their original scheme for 40 flats. This scheme was amended but ultimately not pursued, following sustained resistance from local councillors.
Now Rowe Property Developments (RPD) has submitted a planning application for 27 two-bedroom apartments, including two for which the company is targeting a sales price of over half a million pounds.
The present Victorian extensions around the core Georgian manor building, which dates from 1806, would be demolished. Sixty per cent of the existing complex would thus be removed. The manor building would be extensively restored and refurbished, with construction of two new adjacent blocks and a third detached block.
The £8 million scheme includes three affordable homes for local people plus a “substantial” contribution to the cost of further off-site affordable accommodation elsewhere in Falmouth.
RPD has also indicated its willingness in principle to surrender an undeveloped area of land on the south boundary of the site to facilitate the creation of level pathway access for disabled people from Emslie Road to the Princess Pavilion.
The applicant has commissioned an independent report from international property consultants Knight Frank into the viability of the Gyllyngdune as an hotel.
In his report, Knight Frank partner Martin Rogers concludes: “I do not believe that it is financially viable for this property to be restored and reinstated to any form of holiday use . . . the property cannot be reopened as a hotel in the future as it is commercially not viable.”
Devington originally commissioned a similar report which also concluded that the Gyllyngdune Manor had no future as a hotel, but Carrick District Council’s planning committee voted in 2002 to commission their own study before determining the application.
The original Devington scheme had been reduced to 17 and recommended for approval by Carrick District Council planning officers, but it still attracted strong criticism from committee members.
Devington subsequently announced their intention to go to appeal against Carrick’s non-determination of the planning application, but did not pursue this.
The Gyllyngdune Manor had been owned by the Tarrant family since 1978 and was placed on the market in 1999, requiring major refurbishment and modernisation.
“This is a wholly exceptional site, with an elevated position providing 360-degree panoramic views covering some of Cornwall’s most beautiful scenery,” said RPD managing director Mike Greenslade.
“We are well aware of the sensitivity to such developments in this area, but we are proposing very high quality buildings which will be in sympathy with their environment and which will enable the manor house once again to become the prominent and dominant feature of the site.
He added: “We have had extensive pre-application negotiations with Carrick’s planning and housing departments. We have now reached a point where there is sufficient common ground between us for me to have the confidence to submit a planning application.”
The new scheme has been designed by the Lilly Lewarne Practice, of Truro. The manor building would be converted into just two, exceptionally large apartments, with one of over 1,500 square feet on the ground floor and the other of 1,800 sq ft on the first floor.
Attached to the west of these would be a new three and four-storey block of 11 apartments, with a northward link to a three-storey block of nine apartments. A two-storey block of five apartments would be built in the north eastern corner of the site.
Between the new blocks would be an internal quadrangle space focusing on the prominent elevation of the manor house building. This area would also be landscaped to create a very attractive environment.
Among historic features to be retained is a “Porte Cochere” – a canopy structure providing all weather access to the manor house from horse-drawn transport.
Publish date: 17th November 2006
Modified: 17th November 2006