81-87 Academy Street & 2-6 Exchange Street comprises a surface carpark and a former warehouse building built in the 1950s and refurbished in 1991 by Lyons Architects (Z/1990/2329/F) to form a showroom and office space.
Galgorm Properties and RPP Architects submitted a planning application (Z/2004/2997/F) in December 2004 proposing to develop a five-storey office building. The application was approved in October 2006.
Barnabas Ventures acquired the site in 2007 and proposed to take forward the permission to develop an 18,000ft2 office building. Barnabas was placed into administration before development commenced and the site was placed on the market by CBRE in 2014 with offers invited in the region of £400,000.
The building sold in late 2014. Intern Europe, WDR & RT Taggart Architects and Strategic Planning undertook consultation during early 2016 on a proposed eight storey 238 bed ‘managed intern accommodation’ building with ground floor offices, car parking and retail unit.
CBRE brought the c.0.15 acre site to market in December 2016 with offers invited in the region of £1.2m.
The site was acquired in January 2017 by a joint venture between Lacuna Developments and Watkin Jones Group (Lacuna Academy Street Ltd) with the intention of developing the site as Build to Rent apartments.
Lacuna Academy Street Ltd and FCB Studios submitted a planning application (LA04/2017/2811/F) in December 2017 proposing to develop a 19 storey residential building comprising 105 units (42no. one bed and 63no. two bed) and ground floor café unit. The application was amended in August 2018, reducing the proposed building to 16 storeys and comprising 90 units (30no.one bed and 60no. two bed) over a ground floor café unit. The amended application was approved in May 2019.
Lacuna Academy Street Ltd submitted a planning application (LA04/2019/2257/F) in September 2019 proposing to develop a 16 storey residential building comprising 105 units (60no. one bed and 45no. two bed), as an amendment to permission LA04/2017/2811/F. The application was approved in November 2021. The applicant name was updated to Project Goat Ltd prior to final consent being issued. This reflects the sale of the site in December 2019. The site is now owned by Castlebrooke Investments.
