Several Doncaster city centre units set to be demolished to make way for office building

On Tuesday (9 January) Doncaster Council’s planning committee will decide whether to approve an application for a central office and commercial block.

The proposed ‘Gateway One’ building will be located at the city gateway on Trafford Way.

Trafford Court Offices, Wolsey Plumb Centre and a vacant retail unit will be demolished to make way for the building.

It will contain five floors of office space and two commercial food and beverage units on the ground floor.

During consultation, concerns over the design of the building were raised by the council’s Urban Design officer.

The officer stated that the proposal does not include enough open space and will therefore have a negative visual impact.

Planning officers have however ruled that the positive impacts of the proposal outweight this negative.

Doncaster Civic Trust also raised concerns over the proposal, due to visual aspects such as the building’s height and material.

It also highlighted that there is no parking on-site and many office buildings currently sit vacant, potentially making it unattractive to tenants.

Town Deal funding which was granted to the council by central government will be used for construction of the building.

The proposal was selected for the funding as it aims to regenerate the St Sepulchre Gate area of the city, as proposed in the council’s Urban Masterplan.

Other schemes that have already taken place as part of the masterplan include the pedestrianisation of the railway station and city centre.